New regulations and legislation has successfully been passed making it compulsory for children under the age of seven to be securely seated in an appropriate and certified child restraint.
These laws have been created to increase child safety while doing what's necessary to try and reduce the number of children that are killed or injured in car crashes.
Click on the links below to see your specific state based Child Car Seat Laws.
Recent research has shown that most Australian parents have their child out of a restraint and into normal seating at around five years old. The consensus is that five years old is too soon and if they are without the proper restraint it increases their risk of receiving serious injuries or death if involved in an accident.
Research conducted in the USA concluded that infant vehicle restraints reduced the risk of death by 75% for children aged zero to one, and 60% for children aged two and three.
Laws guided by age will result in the smallest amount of children being inappropriately restrained. If laws were specific about height, weight or size of the child you would need to continually check these numbers, thus using age as the basis will make it easier for parents to remember and follow the developed guidelines.
You are unable to use child restraints that have been purchased overseas for a couple of reasons: a. Child restraints from overseas aren’t compliant with Australian standards. b. Child restraints from overseas may not be compatible with Australian vehicles. Restraints that meet the Australian Standard will display the image to the right. If your restraint doesn't have a label, even if it has come off, it should be considered unsafe and not used.
Responsibility is stowed upon the driver to ensure all children within the vehicle are restrained in an appropriate and Australian standards approved restraint. Penalties and fines do apply if the driver fails to ensure the appropriate safety measures are taken.