New York vs Vermont

New York and Vermont agree on the first rule that matters: a child must ride rear-facing until age 2. After that, Vermont keeps a child protected longer and in the back seat. Vermont stages a forward-facing harness until age 5, a booster until a flat age 8, and the back seat for every child under 13. New York moves a child to a booster after the rear-facing stage and releases them at age 8, but it lets a tall or heavy child out early and has no back-seat rule. So Vermont holds the booster longer for bigger children and adds a broad back-seat requirement, which makes it the stricter state, even though New York covers taxis that Vermont exempts.

Vermont uses a flat age 8 for the booster with no height shortcut, so a tall 6 or 7 year old stays in a booster until their 8th birthday. New York releases a child at age 8 but treats it as an affirmative defense that the child is taller than 4 feet 9 inches or over 100 pounds, which gives a big child an early, legal exit. Vermont also requires a child under 13 to ride in the back seat if practical, one of the broadest back-seat rules in the country, while New York has no back-seat requirement. So a 10-year-old must sit in the back in Vermont but may ride up front in New York.

New York applies its child restraint rules broadly, with no general taxi or rideshare exemption, so a child seat is expected in a New York City cab. Vermont exempts a vehicle regularly used to transport passengers for hire, except one operated by a child care facility, so the requirement does not apply in a Vermont taxi. That is the one place New York is the tougher state. On rear-facing the two match exactly at age 2, and both recommend rear-facing as long as the seat allows, well beyond the legal minimum.

The law that applies is the law of the state you are physically driving in. New York and Vermont meet across Lake Champlain and along I-87 in the east, with the ferry crossings and US 4 linking the Adirondacks to the Vermont side. To stay legal across the whole trip, follow Vermont's stricter rules: keep a child in a booster until a firm age 8, and seat every child under 13 in the back, while remembering that New York expects a child seat even in a taxi. A family moving from New York to Vermont picks up the firm age-8 booster and the broad back-seat requirement.