Canadian Car Seat Laws

[Generator515]

Wondering if anyone has any insight to Canadian car seats laws?

 

Will be traveling with my petite 5 year old and leaving from Vancouver. At home she qualifies for a booster seat due to age but looking at British Columbia and the Yukon seems it is purely weight (40lbs in BC and 48lbs in Yukon). She is currently 37lbs and the booster we were going to travel with is qualified for 30-80lbs. 
 

Anything to worry about as we Uber to the port and then rent a car in Skagway to drive through BC and Yukon?

[martincath]

15 hours ago, Generator515 said:

Wondering if anyone has any insight to Canadian car seats laws?

First, kudos on bothering to check the rules in your multiple-jurisdiction trip; secondly, I'm attempting extremely careful wording here, to avoid any 'bad parent!' inference (for context, my own parents must have been pure evil by modern standards because not only did I never have any kind of kid seat at any age, I often didn't even have a seat at all - rode in the trunk of a station-wagon regularly aged ~6-10!) so please read with that in mind!

 

While I think it's unlikely you will have any legal issues with the booster, if you still have the prior seat type you used for DD and she doesn't exceed the weight limit of that (and it hasn't expired etc.) it would be less likely to cause problems here as well as being safer for DD.

 

Unfortunately there is no practical way to be totally in compliance with the law when driving yourself out of Skagway, or any other cross-border drive - if you install a Canadian-spec seat you're breaking AK rules even though our testing is more stringent, and a US seat that doesn't also have the Canadian National Safety Mark proving it was tested and approved for use here (plus labels in both English and French) becomes a problem when you hit the border. Short of pulling over between the 'Welcome To <Insert Here>' signs and swapping a US seat for a Canadian one you're always technically in breach!

 

I've actually spoken to both local, WA and Oregon cops about this exact topic - my sister brought her infant son to visit us, he turned one while here, and she initially wanted to spend some time in Portland as well as Vancouver so I did all sorts of research into what the heck I needed to do to keep tiny nephew safe and legally drive him around - so anecdotally as long as a cop doesn't look at your car and immediately think 'That kid does not appear safe!' it's very unlikely they will ask to check the safety markings on the seat for compliance with local jurisdictions, or the exact height or weight your child.

 

But a rear vs. a front facing seat, or a booster vs. either, are very obvious at a glance - so if you bring a seat that looks like the right kind of seat Canadian LEOs expect to see a kid of DDs size in, whatever your small risk of hassle is with the Booster will drop even lower.

 

On the other hand, we also have the (isane IMO) fact that you can just stick the kid in the back of a Cabuber here in BC using the adult belt perfectly legally (we have a 'professional driver' exemption to car seat rules; Uberlyft drivers need the same 'pro' driving license as cabbies), but if you installed your US booster seat it would not be legal despite obviously improving safety compared to no kid seat at all... so sometimes the law is indeed an ass, and you just have to do the best you can!

 

TL;DR: bring the right kind of seat if you can rather than a booster, even if it's still not a Canadian-tested one, because a 'real' seat is less likely to cause any problems... but even your booster will probably go entirely unremarked upon by authorities in BC or Yukon.

[Generator515]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. Don’t know what possessed me to check but now to try and find the way with the least risk. 

7 hours ago, martincath said:

First, kudos on bothering to check the rules in your multiple-jurisdiction trip; secondly, I'm attempting extremely careful wording here, to avoid any 'bad parent!' inference (for context, my own parents must have been pure evil by modern standards because not only did I never have any kind of kid seat at any age, I often didn't even have a seat at all - rode in the trunk of a station-wagon regularly aged ~6-10!) so please read with that in mind!

 

While I think it's unlikely you will have any legal issues with the booster, if you still have the prior seat type you used for DD and she doesn't exceed the weight limit of that (and it hasn't expired etc.) it would be less likely to cause problems here as well as being safer for DD.

 

Unfortunately there is no practical way to be totally in compliance with the law when driving yourself out of Skagway, or any other cross-border drive - if you install a Canadian-spec seat you're breaking AK rules even though our testing is more stringent, and a US seat that doesn't also have the Canadian National Safety Mark proving it was tested and approved for use here (plus labels in both English and French) becomes a problem when you hit the border. Short of pulling over between the 'Welcome To <Insert Here>' signs and swapping a US seat for a Canadian one you're always technically in breach!

 

I've actually spoken to both local, WA and Oregon cops about this exact topic - my sister brought her infant son to visit us, he turned one while here, and she initially wanted to spend some time in Portland as well as Vancouver so I did all sorts of research into what the heck I needed to do to keep tiny nephew safe and legally drive him around - so anecdotally as long as a cop doesn't look at your car and immediately think 'That kid does not appear safe!' it's very unlikely they will ask to check the safety markings on the seat for compliance with local jurisdictions, or the exact height or weight your child.

 

But a rear vs. a front facing seat, or a booster vs. either, are very obvious at a glance - so if you bring a seat that looks like the right kind of seat Canadian LEOs expect to see a kid of DDs size in, whatever your small risk of hassle is with the Booster will drop even lower.

 

On the other hand, we also have the (isane IMO) fact that you can just stick the kid in the back of a Cabuber here in BC using the adult belt perfectly legally (we have a 'professional driver' exemption to car seat rules; Uberlyft drivers need the same 'pro' driving license as cabbies), but if you installed your US booster seat it would not be legal despite obviously improving safety compared to no kid seat at all... so sometimes the law is indeed an ass, and you just have to do the best you can!

 

TL;DR: bring the right kind of seat if you can rather than a booster, even if it's still not a Canadian-tested one, because a 'real' seat is less likely to cause any problems... but even your booster will probably go entirely unremarked upon by authorities in BC or Yukon.

 

[em-sk]

On 5/18/2024 at 6:18 PM, Generator515 said:

Wondering if anyone has any insight to Canadian car seats laws?

 

Will be traveling with my petite 5 year old and leaving from Vancouver. At home she qualifies for a booster seat due to age but looking at British Columbia and the Yukon seems it is purely weight (40lbs in BC and 48lbs in Yukon). She is currently 37lbs and the booster we were going to travel with is qualified for 30-80lbs. 
 

Anything to worry about as we Uber to the port and then rent a car in Skagway to drive through BC and Yukon?

 

Public transit (including taxi and uber) are exempt from car seat regulations in British Columbia.  So you are not going to breaking any laws.

 

There is also a special exemption for cars registered outside of BC.  You must have a seat, but it does not need to BC regulations as long as it is compliant with the regulations of the jurisdiction where the car is licensed.  

 

https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/26_58_11