# What age is it safe for children to use a standard seatbelt? You've probably got it wrong



## Hugh G (Sep 22, 2016)

*What age is it safe for children to use a standard seatbelt? You've probably got it wrong*


By Vivienne Pearson


26/12/2017


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-26/booster-seats-in-the-car-five-step-test/9266522










*Photo:* There are different car seats for different stages of growth. (Supplied: Leonie Scarlett (Rural Photos)) 

"My child is seven so legally doesn't need a booster seat." It's a seriously flawed line often touted by parents across Australia, although it's technically correct.

Had Christine Stephens' seven-year-old daughter, Indiana, been without a booster seat when a truck slammed into their car, no law would have been broken. But Indiana would have been.










*Photo:* Christine Stephens' car following the accident (Supplied) 

After the accident, which happened a month ago on a suburban Sydney street, rescuers told Ms Stephens in no uncertain terms Indiana's well-fitted booster seat saved her life.

Ms Stephens knew her daughter was far shorter than the 145-150cm height needed for an adult seatbelt to do its job.

This height, recommended by expert guidelines, means the vast majority of seven-year-olds are not safe without a booster seat. Neither are most eight, nine, or even 10-year-olds.

In fact, many 11-year-olds and some 12-year-olds are not tall enough to meet the "five-step test", which is the ultimate guide to when it is safe for a child can to properly in a seat without a booster.

Due to differences in seat design, the same child might meet the test in one model of car but not in another.

*Boosters for tweens*

Almost all "tweenagers" (8-12-year-olds) should be sitting in a booster seat.

*The five step test*

Work out if your child can move from a car seat to an adult seatbelt with the five-step test:


Check that your child has their back flat against the back of the seat
When sitting all the way back with their back flat, their legs should be able to bend over the seat edge
The seatbelt should run over the middle of the child's shoulder and not dig into their neck
The seatbelt should sit low and firm across the child's hips and touch their thighs
This position should be comfortable and allow the child to sit in this position for the whole trip.

_Source: RACV, based on Best Practice Guidelines for the Safe Restraint of Children Travelling in Motor Vehicles' by KidSafe and NeuRA from 2013._

Are yours? Mine aren't. I am one of the many parents who are confused and out of date with this area of parenting.

My 12-year-old daughter is now 145cm and passes the five-step test, but wouldn't have when she moved out of a booster seat two years ago.

My son is nine, 135cm tall, and does pass the test, yet he started sitting with just an adult seatbelt a few months ago.

Before you dismiss me as a slack parent, hear that my kids sat in a booster seat far longer than their peers.

In our current culture, most kids older than seven do not sit in a booster seat.

Parents who want to meet the guidelines face the very real challenge of convincing their nearly-teenaged kids to act counter to this culture.

*Horrified by the school drop-off*

One parent who knows the guidelines well is Lucy Burt.

In her professional life as co-owner of Peace's Child Restraints on Sydney's Northern Beaches, Ms Burt relishes the opportunity to educate and assist parents to make their cars as safe as possible.

As a parent, she sees how few people are aware of guidelines.

"I'm horrified by what I see at 'kiss and ride', at school drop-off," she says.










*Photo:* Lucy and Mitchell Burt with their daughters Emma and Phoebe. (Vivienne Pearson) 

Using a newer-model booster seat that accommodates heights of 150cm plus, Ms Burt's two children did stay in a booster seat until they met the five-step test.

Phoebe was nearly 12 when she moved out of her booster.

"I didn't like it &#8230; no-one else really did it," she says, so embarrassed that she was initially reluctant to even discuss the topic. "You get too mature for it."

Younger sister, Emma offers a different perspective.

"I didn't mind being in a booster because I knew it was safer," she says.

Her different opinion might be personality based, or influenced by the fact that, since she was taller than her sister she stopped sitting in a booster on her 10th birthday - before the onset of puberty and all the emotional and social changes that brings.

*What the law says*

The tweenager years are a complex time for children and parents, and decisions about child car restraints are made more complex by the seeming mismatch between what is the law and what is safe.

The law (section 266 of each state's road laws) is not as cut and dried as usually quoted.

Two clear options are given for children older than seven: a booster seat or an adult seatbelt.

Seven is the first age an adult seatbelt can be legally used but there is no way the law can be interpreted as saying a booster seat is not needed beyond this age.

Research, recently published in the Journal of the Australian College of Road Safety, revealed 41 per cent of parents surveyed assumed their child would reach 145cm at age seven - perhaps due to confusing the different messages floating around on this topic.

*We need a culture change, too*

The researchers call for greater education of parents. To that message, I will add that significant culture change also needs to occur.

This would be supported by considering tweenagers as well as their parents in the design of seats and crafting of marketing messages.

The comfort and usability of the seats need to be promoted as well as safety messages.

Retailers need to upskill. Chain stores are generally unaware of the guidelines and do not stock the only model of booster seat that is big enough to fit 145-150cm heights.

Car manufacturers should also be called on to consider their capacity for making car travel safer for tweenagers without a booster seat.

This is particularly important for extended family or others who only occasionally transport this age group in their car.

Language needs to change away from age and heights. Even when these are used as a rough guide, a range should be given rather than a single number.

*Hard to go back to a booster*

Change is starting to happen. Of the booster seats that fit taller children, Ms Burt says: "We used to have them on the shelf and just dust them. But now they outsell the others four-to-one."

Will change happen in my family? Will my newfound knowledge prompt me to put my son - who is not quite tall enough to pass the five-step test in our car - back in a booster seat?

I know I should but, after not having sat in a booster seat for months, he isn't keen and I don't relish the cost, inconvenience or battle that would be needed to reintroduce one.

There is a long way to go until the majority of Australian children over seven are travelling in the safest way possible in our cars.


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## Skipper (Aug 14, 2017)

This whole area is plagued with misinformation from all the vested interest lobby groups involved. If there was significant real data regarding seatbelt v's booster then vehicle manufacturer standards would be forced to change - not a reliance on after-market products that may or may not make a difference.
It's easy to get parents arced-up with a couple of anecdotal horror stories.


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

Hugh G said:


> *What age is it safe for children to use a standard seatbelt? You've probably got it wrong*
> 
> 
> By Vivienne Pearson
> ...


Thanks for the post!

I'm not happy when kids over 7 have seat belts resting against their necks. I get into heaps of conflict with parents who just say "it will be ok"

Had this idiot with a 2 yr old toddler book a Lux job from those swish apartments in Notts Ave STh Bondi. 
"Only going to Paddo mate! All the other drivers are fine with it"

Not me, not ever.

One exception though was when a distraught dad had booked a UBER black. The 6yr old child was listless, with fever and cold hands, strange rash, couldn't walk to the car.

Meningococcal had been in the news, and it's a horrible disease that has to be attended to as quickly as possible. I couldn't delay them one minute, so took them to Randwick children's hospital quickly and safely as I could.


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## MyRedUber (Dec 28, 2015)

Sydney Uber said:


> Meningococcal


After carrying a person with a potentially infectious disease, do we need to sterilise the interior of our car?


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

MyRedUber said:


> After carrying a person with a potentially infectious disease, do we need to sterilise the interior of our car?


It happened 2 years ago. Poor kid was shivering bad, but sweating. Dad had him wrapped in a blanket.

I guess having kids that age knocked my analytical mind off 'cause I just got them to Randwick as quickly and safely as possible. I didn't even think of that. I'd called the emergency dept up ahead of our arrival, they had a nurse there ready to wheel him in. I just prayed for the little fellow as they left.


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## MyRedUber (Dec 28, 2015)

No doubt you did the right thing. I would have done the same.
Just wondering if we should disinfect our cars after carrying someone who's potentially infectious.

I occasionally drive for a children's medical transport charity. If any of the passengers has an immune deficiency, or is undergoing chemotherapy, we have to wipe down the inside of the vehicle / van / bus before we pick them up. Likewise after carrying a child with an infectious disease. 
And we can't drive if we have anything infectious, even a common cold.


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

MyRedUber said:


> No doubt you did the right thing. I would have done the same.
> Just wondering if we should disinfect our cars after carrying someone who's potentially infectious.
> 
> I occasionally drive for a children's medical transport charity. If any of the passengers has an immune deficiency, or is undergoing chemotherapy, we have to wipe down the inside of the vehicle / van / bus before we pick them up. Likewise after carrying a child with an infectious disease.
> And we can't drive if we have anything infectious, even a common cold.


Sounds like some of the precautions we've been taking for Leukaemia sufferers who travel to RNS.

That's good work you do with the kids. So sad that a lot of the support services to sufferers and families fall onto charities to fund and supply.


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