State raises required age for car child restraint to 8

Effective today, some children will have to wait another year to graduate from their car booster seat.

State traffic law formerly required that children under age 7 be secured by a child restraint system. Now, according to a law signed Aug. 26 by Gov. David A. Paterson, children under age 8 must be restrained in such a manner.

A vehicle's safety belts "are not defined as a child restraint system," a state Department of Motor Vehicles press release said. Depending on the size of a child, a restraint system may be a child passenger safety seat or a booster seat.