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Seatbelts and child restraints – new law

Date : 09 Nov 2009

Approved child restraints

All children under 7 years old must be properly restrained in approved child restraints when they are travelling in a motor vehicle. This is part of a broad review of driving rules and regulations in Victoria.

Different kinds of child restraints must be used according to the age of the child, as follows:

a baby under 6 months old must be placed in a properly fastened restraint that faces the back of the vehicle, such as a baby capsule
a child between 6 months and 4 years must be in a backward or forward facing seat with a built in harness
a child between 4 years and 7 years must be in a forward facing restraint with a built in harness or a booster seat.

Children should not sit in the front seat

Children under 4 years old should not sit in the front seat of a passenger vehicle that has two rows of seats. (Obviously this will not be possible in a utility.) A child between 4 and 7 years old should not sit in the front seat unless all of the other seats are occupied by children under 7 years old.

Exemption

These rules do not apply to buses or taxis. A child under 7 years must be restrained in a seatbelt if there is no approved child restraint available.

Driver must make sure passengers are belted up

It is up to the driver to make sure that sure that each passenger is properly restrained in a seat belt or child restraint. The driver may be fined if a passenger is not wearing a seat belt. This applies to both adult and child passengers. VicRoads suggests that if a passenger refuses to wear a seatbelt the driver should stop the vehicle when it is safe to do so.

Exemption

Bus and taxi drivers are not held responsible for passengers aged 16 or over. People who are over 16 years old may be fined if they do not wear seatbelts when being driven in a taxi.

Penalties

Demerit points

Drivers can lose 3 demerit points from their licence if they:

are caught driving without wearing a seatbelt
allow a child under 16 to travel without being properly restrained.

Fines

A fine of up to 10 penalty units can apply to drivers or adult passengers who do not wear seatbelts. Drivers can also be fined up to 10 penalty units if they drive with a child passenger who is not properly restrained.