#CarseatFullstop - better safe than sorry

http://www.carseatfullstop.org

After traveling this weekend, i noticed that there are still a large number of parents traveling with there babies or kids not in car seats. And to make it worse most of them are sitting on laps of an adult. The other fact that i released on speaking to mom's most of them still don't understand the in's and out's of car seats. So i decide to help spread the word of  #carseatfullstop campaign.

Most parents and family members don't seem to know what the legal requirements for driving with a child in the car? I found that the AA website   had one of the easier reads on the law of car seat

The National Road Traffic Act does not have a specific regulation in respect of children sitting in the front seat.

A baby should be in an approved and preferably rear-facing child seat.  Older children (15-25kgs) should be secured in a booster seat with a seatbelt on, preferably in the rear of the vehicle.

We at the AA recommend that a child is always properly restrained with a car seat or booster seat until the child can safely be secured by the seatbelt.

However, the regulation deals with seatbelts in respect of age categories.  Road users are broken down into the following categories: 

1. Children are defined as being between the age of 3 to 14 except where the person is taller than 1.5 metres
2. And adult is defined as being 14 and over or taller than 1.5 metres tall. 

The Act requires that an adult must at all times make use of a seatbelt. The only exception under these circumstances where an adult may be exempted from using a seatbelt is where there are no seats with fitted seatbelts available. (This refers to older vehicles that weren’t manufactured with rear seatbelts).

It is the obligation of the motorist to ensure that where there is a child restraint available (car seat / booster seat), a child must be securely seated in it.  The Act further requires that where there is no child restraint available in the vehicle then the child must be secured in a seatbelt. In other words, in the case of an older vehicle with no seatbelts at the back the child must be restrained in a seatbelt at the front.

The Act is silent as to the minimum weight for a child to sit in the front seat of a car.

 
#CarseatFullstop is sponsored by Volvo Cars. You can download the free Children and Cars Manual here.

So safe travels and don't forget to follow #carseatfullstop campaign