Yahel Cruz, age 4, was seriously injured when she was thrown from a truck driven by Osbaldo Cruz as the truck rolled over after blowing a tire. The child was not in a car seat or seat belt. Florida Statute 316.613, titled “Child restraint requirements,” states that “every operator of a motor vehicle . . . while transporting a child in a motor vehicle operated on the roadways, streets, or highways of this state, shall, if the child is 5 years of age or younger, provide for protection of the child by properly using a crash-tested, federally approved child restraint device. For children aged through 3 years, such restraint device must be a separate carrier or a vehicle manufacturer’s integrated child seat. For children aged 4 through 5 years, a separate carrier, an integrated child seat, or a seat belt may be used.” Serious injuries or death caused by being ejected – or worse, partially ejected – are a virtual certainty in a rollover accident when a child is not in a car seat or seat belt.
