The Highway Code has a number of articles about child safety in vehicles. Since April 18, 2019, a new section of the Code requires that you get out the child booster seat you thought you had put away for good.

The right seat according to weight and height

Booster seat: From now on, your child must be in a booster seat until the age of nine or until he or she measures 145 centimetres (57 inches) in height.

Facing backward: Seats for newborns and some children face backward. A seat that faces backward provides the best protection in terms of safety for your child.

The Ville de Mont-Tremblant Police Department recommends that you keep your child in a backward-facing seat as long as possible. In general, you should keep your child in this position until at he or she is at least one year old and does not yet weigh 10 kg (22 pounds).

Facing forward: Your child must remain in a forward-facing child seat until he or she weighs at least 18 kg (40 pounds). However, we recommend that you keep a child in a child car seat as long as possible before transferring them to a booster seat because the child is safer in the car seat.  

In contrast to the commonly-held belief that the passenger-side back seat is the safest, the safest place to install a child car seat is in the centre position of the car’s back seat. In the event of a lateral collision, your child will be less exposed to the impact zones.

You can go to your local police station or CLSC to check that your child car seat is properly installed. Consult the list of members of the Child Car Seat Verification Network on the CAA Quebec English website at: caaquebec.com/en and on the SAAQ English website at: saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en

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