While all the States and Provinces have laws regulating child seats for babies and small children, there are still several without laws requiring children to use booster seats.

In the US, they are Arizona, Florida and South Dakota.  In Canada, they are the three Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan), and the three Territories (Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories).

You can use Clek’s handy booster seat requirements guide to check the laws in other North American locations.  However, if you are driving somewhere where the law is less stringent, we suggest you continue to use a booster seat until your child weighs between 80 and 100 lb, is 4’9″ tall, and passes the Five Step Test.  For most children, that’s not until they are about 10 to 12 years old.

Before then, adult seat belts simply aren’t safe in the event of an accident, even at relatively slow speeds.