Child Car Restraints

Make Passenger Safety a Priority

Kidsafe Australia with the support of NRMA Insurance and SGIO have developed the ‘Make Passenger Safety a Priority’ animation to reduce the risk of injury to children whilst travelling in your car. In Australia, transport related injuries are the leading cause of death and the second most common cause of hospitalisation for children aged zero to 14 years. Fortunately, there are simple things you can do to make it safer for your children whilst travelling on the road.

Vehicle-related Injury Statistics

• Deaths from vehicle crashes remain one of the leading causes of child injury deaths in Australia.
• In South Australia, approximately 1/3 of child injury deaths per year are due to vehicle accidents (Government of SA 2007; 2008; 2009). Many more young children are injured and require hospitalisation due to vehicle related injuries.
• There has been overwhelming evidence that a combination of safer vehicle design and correct child restraint use have proven to be effective in reducing child deaths and severity of injuries. Despite this evidence, many children are not restrained in appropriate child restraints (Johnson 2009; WHO & UNICEF 2008).
• Kidsafe fitting services continue to find that 70-80% of children are travelling incorrectly restrained, putting them at 7 times greater risk of being seriously injured in the event of a crash. 

Seat Me Safely - An interactive guide for parent's and carer's

New legislative changes in South Australia in 2010 require all children to be restrained in cars up to the age of at least 7 years (many kids will remain in a car seat or booster seat until they are 8-10 years old). Seat Me Safely helps guide parents and carers through easy-to-follow information on the correct selection and use of child car restraints for your child. Click on the koala to visit the interactive "Seat Me Safely" site.

National Guidelines for the safe restraint of children in motor vehicles

Keeping children as safe as possible while travelling in motor vehicles

The National Guidelines for the Safe Restraint of Children Travelling in Motor Vehicles have been developed by Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and Kidsafe - The Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Australia. The National Guidelines provide best practice recommendations that have been approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

NeuRA and Kidsafe want to see all children as safe as they can be when travelling in cars. Ensuring that parents receive straightforward, consistent advice from all sources on how to keep children safe in cars is an important step in making this happen.

For more information on these best practice guidelines click here

Carrying Children Safely In Cars

Still unsure which child restraint is best for your child? Need a child restraint fitted?

For further information about child car restraints, please contact Kidsafe SA on (08) 8161 6318.

Restraint fitting services are provided by various organisations to assist parents and carers to install and use approved restraints correctly. Approved rearward facing child restraints, such as baby capsules, can be hired through various private organisations.

There may be a charge for restraint fitting services and you will need to call the provider to make a booking.

The following organisations will also be able to help you:

Contact the Department of Planning Transport and Infrastructure for information on current child restraint laws.
www.dpti.sa.gov.au/

Where can I go for further information?

• Download the Kidsafe SA Child Car Seats Fact Sheet and the Child Restraint Guidelines - A guide for parents and carers
• I would like to speak to someone about child car restraints – Contact Kidsafe SA (08) 8161 6318.
• A Parent’s Guide to Kidsafe Roads booklet describes some simple steps parents can take to help make children safer road users. Hardcopies of this booklet are available for purchase from Kidsafe SA – (08) 8161 6318.