Arkansas vs Mississippi

Arkansas and Mississippi both sit near the bottom of the national range for child restraint requirements, and the comparison comes down to small differences. Neither state sets a rear-facing age, and neither requires the back seat. The separation is at the booster stage and at the taxi door. Mississippi keeps a child in a booster until age 7, or until they are both 4 feet 9 inches and 65 pounds. Arkansas releases a child a year earlier, at age 6 or 60 pounds. Mississippi also applies its rules in cabs, while Arkansas excludes vehicles operated for hire. Those two points make Mississippi the marginally stricter state, though both fall well short of best practice.

Mississippi requires a child at least 4 but under 7 who is under 4 feet 9 inches or under 65 pounds to ride in a belt-positioning booster. Arkansas requires a child under 6 and under 60 pounds to be in a child safety seat, then allows the seat belt at 6 or 60 pounds. The practical effect is that a 6-year-old is legally done in Arkansas but still needs a booster in Mississippi until age 7. Both thresholds are early. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping a child in a booster until the seat belt actually fits, usually near 4 feet 9 inches and between ages 8 and 12, which is years beyond either state's minimum.

Neither state sets a rear-facing age, so the direction an infant faces is left to the parent and seat manufacturer in both. Pediatricians recommend rear-facing as long as the seat allows regardless. The taxi rule is where Arkansas is actually looser: its requirement applies to a passenger automobile, van, or pickup other than one operated for hire, so a child seat is not legally required in an Arkansas taxi. Mississippi has no general taxi or rideshare exemption, so the booster and child seat rules follow the child into a Mississippi cab.

The law that applies is the law of the state you are physically driving in. Arkansas and Mississippi are separated by the Mississippi River, with crossings such as the US 82 bridge at Greenville and the routes through the Memphis area to the north. To stay legal across the whole trip, follow Mississippi's slightly stricter rules: keep a child in a booster until age 7, and use a child seat in a cab. A family moving from Arkansas to Mississippi gains one booster year and loses the taxi exemption, but neither state should be treated as a reason to ease up on the back seat or on rear-facing, which pediatricians recommend far longer than either law requires.