Idaho shouldn’t have exceptions from its child safety seat law for overcrowded cars without enough seatbelts or for nursing infants, Sen. Joyce Broadsword told the Senate Transportation Committee today. “The children of our state are our most precious resource,” Broadsword, R-Sagle, told the committee.

She said the two exceptions that currently are included in Idaho’s child safety seat law are preventing the state from qualifying for federal grants that would help low-income Idaho families buy car seats. The issue was brought to her attention by pediatricians, she said. Broadsword said the exceptions pose a danger to young children. “Allowing them to become ping-pong balls in the back of a car is not, in my opinion, a good way to protect them,” she told the committee, which then voted unanimously to introduce her bill.

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