From next month, many children who thought they had grown out of sitting in child car seats will have to go back into them, as new rules come into force. And among parents there is widespread uncertainty about what the new laws mean.

 

From 18 September, children up to the age of 12, or up to the height of 135 cm, will have to use safety seats - which could mean that youngsters who have spent several years in adult seats will now need to return to using child seats.

 

Safety campaigners and motorists' organisations have all welcomed the changes - which the Department for Transport says will reduce the number of child casualties in traffic accidents by about 2,000 per year. But there are serious concerns that families are not receiving adequate information about what seats they will need and how the new regulations will operate. And failure to comply will mean court fines up to £500.

 

"We have been receiving an awful lot of calls from very confused motorists," says Sheila Rainger of the RAC Foundation. "These drivers know something is changing over child car seats - but beyond that they don't know where to get any information."

 

Worried parents

 

"We need some really simple-to-understand guidance for parents," she says.

 

CHILD SEAT REGULATIONS

 

Child seats compulsory until children reach 135 cm or the age of 12

Children up to age of 3 must be carried in appropriate seat

Exemption for over-3s in "unexpected necessity"

Exemption if there are three children but only room for two car seats

Fine of up to £500

 

The AA Motoring Trust also echoes this concern, saying they're also receiving anxious calls from people uncertain about the requirements. And retailers are reporting consumer confusion. Caroline Reynolds, who works in the nursery section at John Lewis, says customers ask: "Is this really true?"

 

A spokesman for the Department for Transport says the message has reached parents and that people will recognise that it's an important step in reducing injuries. And the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) says that it's not about catching people out, but taking the next step in improving the safety of children in cars.

 

Rospa's road safety officer, Duncan Vernon, says almost 8,000 children are killed or injured in car accidents each year and the new rules should reduce that by a quarter. In particular, it will address the injuries caused by children who are not correctly restrained in the back seats - with a collision at 30mph throwing a child forward with a force that is 30 to 60 times its body weight.

 

Belt up

 

While parents are usually careful about protecting babies and young toddlers, many children stop using car seats before they're physically large enough for an adult safety belt - which are designed for people who are 150 cm (about 5 feet) and taller.

 

 

There is an exemption if there is no room for three car seats

 

If there's a crash and a child less than this height is wearing an adult belt it can cause serious damage to the child's internal organs.

 

The idea of tightening the regulations is to make sure that children use safety seats longer - until they're tall enough for adult seat belts, with the legal threshold set at 135 cm (about 4 feet 5 inches) or 12 years of age.

 

This doesn't mean having to buy a child seat with back or head protection: the requirement is that children are raised to a sufficient height. This legal minimum would be covered by a the backless plastic seats - sometimes called "booster cushions" - which cost about £20. But there are also car seats, including side protection, which can cost more than £200.

 

There are exceptions to the new regulations. If there is a one-off "unexpected necessity", parents are allowed to waive the restrictions - but this will not apply to the school run. If families take turns in picking up each others' primary school children, they will now have to equip their car with enough appropriate car seats.

 

However, in another exception, many cars are not big enough to accommodate three seats across the back - so families in such cases will be able to travel with only two car seats.

 

Baby-seat embarrassment

 

A tougher question could be persuading image-conscious children who have stopped using car seats to get back into a "baby seat".

 

CORRECT SEATS

 

Birth to 9-12 months:

Rear-facing baby seat, up to 10- 13kgs. Group 0

9 months to 4 years: Forward-facing baby seat: 9-18kgs. Group 1

4 years to 6 years:

Booster seat, 15kgs up to 36kgs. Group 2

6 years to 12 years:

Booster seat or cushion, 22-36kgs. Group 3

 

Maeve, a seven-year-old from south London, says she wouldn't mind going back to a booster seat if other children of her age had to do the same - and that sitting higher would mean seeing "more than just the tops of trees".

 

But her older sister, Anna, aged nine, was less convinced and complained about being squashed and uncomfortable in a child seat. Pride could also be bruised.

 

"It would be embarrassing if you had to use one when none of your other friends did - people who are not tall enough might get teased about being in a baby seat," she said.

 

The Department for Transport has tips such as letting children give the seat a name. "He will be happier to sit on 'Henry' the seat if it's a name he has chosen." Perhaps.

 

Another major unresolved problem is the question of making sure that car seats are correctly fitted.

 

Fitting a seat

 

Anyone who has wrestled with a child seat will know how difficult they can be to install - and without taking it to be checked by an expert, there's no clear way of knowing if it is correctly secured.

 

 

Parents have less than a month to comply with the car seat regulations

 

"The number of misfitted seats is a large concern for us - we've got results from all kinds of surveys suggesting that it is up to 70% or 80%," says Rospa's Duncan Vernon.

 

This figure would suggest that many of the newly-bought car seats are going to end up being incorrectly installed - undermining the safety improvements.

 

But Mr Vernon says the big improvement on the horizon is a new international standard which makes car seats easier to secure, called International Standards Organisation FIX (Isofix).

 

This system, now being put into new cars, gives a much more rigid connection - and when it's connected correctly a green light shows.

 

But even though it's about child safety, it's still about cost - and Isofix systems are currently about twice the price of standard fittings. Mary Davis, who buys car seats for John Lewis, says that Isofix prices are going to come down.

 

But in the next few weeks, in the run up to the deadline for the new seat regulations, the RAC says the "serious problem" is the lack of public knowledge for families.

 

That's rediculous, 12??

What really gets me about this is the fact that 11 year olds will still have to go on what they see as 'baby-seats', and if they're already being bullied , it's not exactly going to be helped by the fact that they're sitting on 'Henry' - worst advice so far this year, basically everyone over the age of 6 will be embarrassed by it, and letting them call it a name won't help!

 

Also, they're forgetting that most kids are 11 when they go to secondary school, which is meant to be a line which shows they are growing up - a line which becomes all too easily blurred if they have to sit in a baby seat on the way to school! These 11 year olds are already prime fodder for bullying when they arrive at secondary school, it will only serve to belittle them more if it's found out that they're not sitting on a booster seat, they're sitting on 'Henry'. I think we should make it that children only have to wear the booster seat until the end of primary school - come on, secondary school students in a booster seat? That's just ridiculous.

 

Also, it costs £20 for minimal protection - is there a chance we could heavily subsidise booster seats? The government as usual hasn't taken into account the poor and those with large families. Most poor families will struggle to instantly pay for a booster seat when they already have bills on their plate, and most large families will find it very hard shelling out for 3 or more seats - how about making family cars with pre-installed booster seats? Even better, the government could offer a free seat to all parents with cars, and subsidise these seats so everyone can afford them - maybe a cost of £10 would be a lot easier to cover.

 

Or, why don't we eliminate the problem entirely - we already have seatbelts that adjust for girth, why don't we have seatbelts that adjust for height?

:rofl: I saw this on Newsround of all programs a few weeks ago at my mate's house.

 

We just pissed ourselves, I mean really, if I was 12 and 134cm I'd just refuse.

 

I remember being 139cm in year five though, so I'd probably have grown out of them by year four myself...

:rofl: I saw this on Newsround of all programs a few weeks ago at my mate's house.

 

We just pissed ourselves, I mean really, if I was 12 and 134cm I'd just refuse.

 

I remember being 139cm in year five though, so I'd probably have grown out of them by year four myself...

 

It's weird - even if you're over 135cm, you still aren't allowed to get out of the boosters until you're 12 :blink: I thought the entire point was because of height!

thats retarted.

What is this world coming to.

It's weird - even if you're over 135cm, you still aren't allowed to get out of the boosters until you're 12 :blink: I thought the entire point was because of height!

No, what it means is you can go out of them if you are younger than 12 and 135cm+ but if you are still under 135cm at the age of 12 you can come out of it.

Absolutely bonkers

 

Are they going to have police and bureaucrats standing outside school gates with measuring tapes to see if the mother has broken the law like we have inspectors on markets measuring bananas to see if they are too curved ?

 

This is crazy $h!t

While crime is at record high levels this bloody government seems far more interested in the size of bananas, terrorising people who put the wrong type of item in the wrong recycling box, harrassing motorists and bringing in crackpot regulations about child seats :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

Thank god I will be out of this country in under 5 years !!

Who is going to catch these children not on booster seats I often see children stood up in cars are they never caught? You must remember your child is the most precious possession you will ever have and safety is far more important than pride.

Who is going to catch these children not on booster seats I often see children stood up in cars are they never caught? You must remember your child is the most precious possession you will ever have and safety is far more important than pride.

 

Well, I've been sitting without one since I was 5 - so have most people I know, and they're all fine!