Children at risk as Australia lags behind other countries on car seat safety, experts say

Children at risk as Australia lags behind other countries on car seat safety, experts say

Did you know there is a discrepancy between law in Australia and what experts say is best practice when it comes to child car seats and restraints? We’re here to help you navigate the information and recommendations to keep your little ones safe.

According to The Guardian, of particular concern to experts are the regulations that allow babies to be moved from a rear-facing to a forward-facing car seat at six months of age, when research shows they should be at least one year old.

Children are also allowed to be moved out of a booster seat at age seven, even though the majority of children are not tall enough to safely use an adult seatbelt until the age of 10-12. The general guide is a child should be 145cm tall and be able to pass the Five Step test.

This puts children at risk of additional injuries in a crash, because the seatbelt sits across their neck and abdomen, rather than their shoulder and thighs. These injuries can include rupturing the bowel and other organs, breaking the spinal column and severing the spinal cord.

Warwick Teague, director of the trauma service at the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne, cited the case of an 11-year-old patient of his who was rendered a quadriplegic after a car crash in 2019 in which he was wearing a seatbelt but not sitting in a booster seat.

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