Researchers tell us seat belts are designed for people who are at least 4’9” (145cm) tall.  So we were wondering just how many children have grown tall enough to safely use an adult seat belt without a booster seat.  We think you will be interested to see what we found.

To get the data, we downloaded the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) growth charts.  Their site has a lot of interesting stuff to check out, but for now we are limiting ourselves to height:

What does this tell us?  Well, about half of girls reach 4 foot 9” (145cm) a little after their 11^th birthday, which is slightly ahead of the boys.  Almost 90% of children have reached this age a little before their 13^th birthday.

What may surprise many parents and what the legislators may not have realized, is that only about 3% of children have reached the safe height to relinquish their booster seat by the age of 9.

While most booster seat regulation in North America requires children to wait until they are 8 before they can legally graduate to adult seat belts, it seems the law is way more lenient than what the seat belt manufacturers are telling us is good for our children’s safety in the event of an accident.