Guest Author - Diane Claus

Transitioning from a standard car safety seat with a 5 point harness to a booster seat is a big step for any child. There is nothing magic that happens when preschools exceed 40 pounds but many parents find they have to transition their preschoolers to a booster seat or spend over $200 on a larger car seat that can accommodate a larger child.

I recently moved my son out of his car safety seat with a 5 point harness to a booster seat. We had two different booster seats and neither kept the seat belt in the correct position. My son complained about the seat belt and was very uncomfortable. I was concerned that the seat belt was not in the correct position. I was considering a larger car safety seat but I did not want to spend that much on a seat that I would use for a short period of time.

Then I learned about the Ride Safer Travel Vest. The Ride Safer Travel Vest is an alternative to the booster seat. It fits the child similar to a life jacket vest and uses guides to keep the seat belt correctly placed. The vest can be used with any seat that has a lap/shoulder belt or with a lap belt and the included tether. The vest is designed to distribute the force evenly over the body in a crash. The Ride Safer Travel Vest comes in two sizes small and large. The small is for kids 3-6 years old weighing 35-60lbs. The large is for children 5-9 years old weighing 50-80lbs.

When I got the vest out of the box I was surprised at how heavy it felt. I am not sure what I was expecting but the weight was a bit more then I thought it would be however, my son did not think it was heavy. To buckle my son up I first have to buckle the seat belt like I would with a standard booster seat then I thread the seat belt through two clips on his lap and the should clip. At first, I found this to be a bit difficult but after a couple of uses it takes me less then two minutes to buckle my son up.

There are a couple of disadvantages; the first is that it does not have cup holders. This is only an issue in one car and only because there are no cup holders in the back seat. We have been using a car safety seat that had two cup holders so this was a bit of a change for us. The other disadvantage is that the vest requires a bit more work to secure onto the child. My mother has arthritis in her hands and she has found it hard to work the clasps to tighten the vest on my son. She has no problems buckling him in and inserting the seat belt into the clasps.

My son loves the vest, he does not complain about how the seatbelt feels and he insists on wearing it everywhere. He has enjoyed showing the vest to all his friends.