Child restraints, correctly installed and used, keep our children safe. All children must be safely fastened in the correct child car seat for their age and size. A child who is properly secured in an approved child car seat is less likely to be injured or killed in a car crash than one who is not.
Child restraint use is often focused on infants, toddlers and younger children, by law children under seven must use dedicated child restraints. For those aged seven and older, parents must decide if their child needs a booster seat or can use an adult seatbelt – this is where there can be some confusion.
To be safest in a crash a child aged over seven needs to be in a booster seat until they are at least 145cm tall and can pass the five-step safety test. On average, Australian children will not reach a height of 145cm until about 11 years of age.
The five-step test can help assess whether a child is big enough to be safely restrained by a seatbelt. Answering ‘yes’ to each step means the child is ready for a seatbelt. The child should be able to:
- Sit all the way back against the seat back.
- Bend their knees comfortably over the front edge of the vehicle seat.
- Sit with the sash belt across their mid-shoulder.
- Sit with the lap belt across the top of their thighs.
- Stay seated in this position for the whole trip.
Often parents move children out of their booster seat as soon as possible (when they turn seven) but it is important not to move a child into a seatbelt until they can achieve a good seatbelt fit. When they should move to a seatbelt depends on the size of the child and the car in which they are travelling. The simplest way to check is to use the five-step test.
A seatbelt must be properly adjusted and fastened when used by a child seven years or over. It is critical that children wearing a seatbelt do not lie horizontal across the car but rather sit upright so the seatbelt is positioned over the mid-shoulder to provide the best level of crash protection.
Although a child can legally sit in the front seat of a vehicle at seven years it is recommended children sit in the back seat until they are older than 12 years, as it is safer and offers more protection to passengers than the front seat.
Across all ages, two in three child restraints are not being used correctly. Mistakes commonly occur in three ways:
- When the child restraint is installed or moved between vehicles.
- When a carer puts a child into the restraint.
- Errors caused by a child, such as taking an arm out of the restraint.
Narrandera Shire Council is encouraging residents to take advantage of a free child restraint check to ensure their child restraints are correctly fitted. For a free restraint check, contact Council’s Road Safety Officer on 02 6959 5510. Numbers are limited.
