But on a desolate stretch of highway outside of Yakima, Washington, Autumn's car rolled over. Anton was thrown out of the vehicle. The car rolled over him. Anton died instantly.

"He was such a loving child," Autumn told Marketplace. "He loved travelling He was curious, outgoing, a very jaunty lad. I think he would have contributed a great deal to this world."

When the Washington State Police arrived, they noted that Anton's seat belt was still buckled. In their accident report, they concluded that the four-year-old was in his seat belt at the time of the crash but that he was "too small for the belt to function properly."

The report concluded exactly what several studies have said — that children between 40 and 80 pounds may be too big for child car seats but are too small to be in an adult seat belt. They should be buckled into a booster seat.

No booster seat law anywhere in Canada

There is no law in Canada that requires children to use booster seats when they outgrow their car seats. Transport Canada recommends parents use booster seats. But it's up to the provinces to make laws about seat belts and car seat use.

So far, not one province has made the use of booster seats mandatory for children who are between 40 and 80 pounds. Yet, the number one killer of children in this country is car accidents.

We checked across the country and — where statistics are available — we found that an overwhelming number of children between the ages of four and eight who are killed and injured in car accidents are strapped into adult seat belts.

In Nova Scotia, children using adult seat belts are eight times more likely to be injured or killed than if they are in child restraints. In other provinces that keep statistics, the numbers are even higher.

In Saskatchewan, children four to eight years old strapped into adult seats belts are 33 times more likely to be injured or killed than those in child restraints.

Every day hundreds of thousands of Canadian kids are being put at risk of serious injury, even death because they are being buckled into safety equipment that was never designed to fit them in the first place.

Seat belts are not designed for children

Seat belts are designed so that the pelvis takes the force of the crash — the pelvis of a 165-pound adult male. But a child's body is too small. The pelvis does not line up the same way an adult male's pelvis would.

In a crash, if the child is not ejected from the belt the unprotected abdomen takes the force of the impact. In a booster seat, the child is boosted up so that the seat belt sits on the body where it would on an adult. That keeps the child in place.

The tremendous force on a small child who is wearing a seat belt — designed for an adult — can cause spinal cord injuries or serious injuries to vital organs.

Dr. Andrew Howard estimates there are between 80 and 100 lap belt injuries a year. He's an orthopaedic surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

"Children are simply too little until they reach 60 pounds," Howard told Marketplace. "Some say at 80 pounds, they can't wear an adult seat belt."

A mother's crusade

Autumn Skeen has turned her private grief into a public story. She took her case to lawmakers in Washington State, citing American study after study that came to the same conclusion: children are being injured and killed because they are put into adult seat belts too soon.

• Booster seat tips

With her testimony, the Washington State legislature passed a law making it mandatory for children up to six years and 60 pounds to be in booster seats. She became what safety organizations everywhere hope for — a poster mother for a cause. As a result, Washington State is the first jurisdiction in North America to have a booster seat law. The law is named after her dead son.

"It's not enough to give people a mother's broken heart; that isn't going to win the day," Skeen said. "I have done a lot of research and the evidence is out there. You have the engineers and the paediatricians. Even the automakers are saying: a seat belt made for a 165-pound is not going to do for a 40-pound child. It's not going to work."

Dr. Fred Rivara helped Autumn Skeen in her battle for booster seat legislation in Washington State. Rivara is a paediatric trauma specialist and is considered to be one of North America's foremost specialists in treating lap belt injuries. He says the studies that say children should be in booster seats until they weigh 80 pounds have been around for more than a decade.

"I've worked in the injury field for 20 years and what I've learned is that health education alone is not enough," Rivara told Marketplace. "We can educate people about using seat belts, using helmets but that's not enough. The law is really important in convincing people to change their behaviour."

Four provinces considering changes

Four Canadian provinces have taken small steps at looking at booster seat legislation. Almost all have car seat clinics where parents can bring their children and the car seats in to make sure they properly fit their child and their vehicle.

• Related story: Installing Kids' Car Seats - Marketplace, Mar 28, 2000

Armetha Kennedy advocates the use of booster seats. Her group and others have persuaded the Nova Scotia government to look at booster seat legislation.

"Often other provinces look to their neighbours," Paul Arsenault, Nova Scotia's director of vehicle compliance told Marketplace. "I think when you are the first ones through the door on an issue, often that really helps people. They say maybe this isn't difficult… It really convinces people we need it."

Valerie Lee, with the Infant and Toddler Safety Association, says talking about change is not enough. Changing the law is the only way to get parents to put their children into booster seats. But legislators are reluctant to take that step.

"I get frustrated sometimes," Lee told Marketplace. "The injuries… and deaths to these young children are preventable. These children don't have to suffer and don't have to die."

Autumn Skeen used to dread walking by the schoolyard when the other mothers were coming to pick up their children. Too many, she says, were being strapped into adult seat belts when they shouldn't have been.

Anton's Law comes into effect next year in Washington State. It will require children six years and 60 pounds to be in booster seats. A start, but not enough, Skeen says.

She is already fighting to boost that requirement up to eight years and 80 pounds. That's what all the studies say is the safe limit for children to be out of booster seats and into seat belts.

NEXT: Booster seat tips »

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