In the near future, I will be introducing the Child Passenger Safety Evidence Act, which will create a narrow, limited exception to Pennsylvania’s current law prohibiting child passenger restraint system violations from being admissible as evidence in criminal proceedings.

As background, seat belt use is a secondary offense for adults in the Commonwealth and use of child passenger restraint systems is generally required for children under eight years of age. However, current law also prohibits both seat belt violations and child passenger restraint system violations from being used as evidence in criminal and civil proceedings. While this blanket prohibition can be argued to have both pros and cons, applying this prohibition uniformly to all forms of required passenger restraints, including child and infant seat use, jeopardizes the safety of young children and limits the ability of motorists to legally defend themselves.

With respect to child safety, this law significantly prevents bringing an adult to justice for even the most irresponsible behavior that directly causes harm to a child. For example, a parent who drives a vehicle while holding an infant in the driver’s seat and subsequently is involved in an accident that causes injury or death to the infant. Current law does not permit the prosecution to address the infant seat violation in this hypothetical situation. Equally problematic in this situation, the other driver who caused the accident may be charged with homicide by vehicle or aggravated assault by vehicle for the injury or death to the infant, but the driver cannot adequately defend themselves in court by simply providing evidence that the parent was holding the infant in the front seat.

This scenario is hypothetical, but real situations such as these are encountered by district attorneys across the Commonwealth. We simply cannot continue to let this blanket exception prevent the proper application of justice to all parties when an accident involving an unrestrained young child occurs. To this end, I am introducing legislation that allows child passenger restraint system violations to be used as evidence in criminal proceedings when all of the following apply:

• The driver of the vehicle transporting the child was 18 or older.
• The child was required to be in a child passenger restraint system (booster or baby/infant seat).
• The child sustained injury or death.

Additionally, this legislation is meant to target the worst child seat violations, which is why my legislation also includes protections for parents who may not perfectly comply with child passenger restraint requirements. Situations where a parent uses the wrong type of seat for the age and size of the child would not be admissible in criminal proceedings under the bill. For example, a parent who may not switch an infant from a rear to a front facing child seat because the infant exceeds the maximum weight.

I believe we can all agree that the proper application of justice, especially when children are involved, requires that the most basic evidence be provided to a court. In the event a baby is injured in a vehicular accident, child seat use is integral in determining who, if anybody, should be held criminally liable.

I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this legislation.