Limited compliance impact for older kids.

• Position: Seat Belt Laws

Laws that require increasingly older kids to sit in car safety seats appear to have limited impact, according to research appearing in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Those parents who already were buckling up kids appear most likely to switch to safety seats, leaving the same number of kids unrestrained.

"These laws can be very appealing for legislators to pass, but our research calls into question their value," says lead author Lauren Jones. "Our study suggests that safety-conscious parents are likely to do what makes their child the safest, but these laws don't have much effect on other parents."

Furthermore, higher fines (as much as $500) do not appear to make much difference in raising the likelihood parents and other drivers comply with the laws.

In the last four decades, laws...