Effective today, Oregon’s child passenger safety laws require children who are younger than 8 and are under 4 feet 9 inches to ride in a booster seat.

The height requirement displaces an old weight requirement. Under the changes, the law now also requires infants under the age of 1 and less than 20 pounds to ride in a rear-facing car seat in the back seat, according to a new release from the Oregon Department of Transportation. Children who are more than 1 year old and between 20 and 40 pounds can still ride in a forward-facing child seat.

Carla Levinsky, who is the Safety Belt Program Manager for ODOT, said the height requirement is necessary because studies show that children slip under adult seat belts. In 2005, 83 percent of children ages 7 to 8 injured in car accidents were not restrained properly, according statistics compiled by the agency.

“They are the type of injuries that normally aren’t fixable — spinal, neck, head injuries,” Levinsky said.

The updated law, passed in this legislative session, is in accordance with standards established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Oregon is one of only a handful of states to upgrade its law to federal standards. By doing so, Levinsky said ODOT is eligible for $500,000 in new federal grants for child passenger safety.

Levinsky said $200,000 of that money will be distributed statewide for low-income families to get child safety seats.