Seat belts and child restraints

From September 2006 new regulations governing the use of child restraints come into force. These update the 1993 regulations, at which time many more vehicles did not have rear seat belts.  The new regulations are mandatory and impose responsibility for non-compliance.  As a driver, if you fail to ensure that passengers are properly restrained, then you may be responsible if the police stop and check the vehicle you are driving.

The regulations for the driver of a vehicle remain unchanged, namely that a seat belt must be worn if fitted.

For a child under 3 years of age, the correct child restraint system must be used in both the front passenger and/or rear seats.  In a taxi, the child may travel unrestrained if there is no child restraint system.  The responsibility for compliance, and any penalty for failure, rests with the driver.

For child from 3rd birthday and 12th birthday, or up to 135cm in height (4ft 5in) in height, whichever they reach first, the correct child restraint must be used in the front passenger seat. If the correct child restraint system is fitted into the rear seat then this must be used.  In the absence of the correct child restraint system in the rear seat, then an adult belt (if fitted) must be used.  The responsibility for compliance, and any penalty for failure, rests with the driver.

For a child of 12 years of age and over, or over 135cm (4ft 5in), an adult belt must be worn in either front or rear seats (if fitted).  The responsibility for compliance, and any penalty for failure, rests with the driver.

An adult passenger must wear a seat belt in either front or rear seats (if fitted).  The responsibility for compliance, and any penalty for failure, rests with the passenger.

If the vehicle is involved in an accident and any passenger suffers personal injuries, they have a claim against either the driver of the vehicle in which they are travelling or a third party (if involved), dependent upon who is to blame for the accident.

If a child is more seriously injured as a result of not wearing the correct restraint system then the compensation claim is likely to be greater, and this will be met by either the driver’s insurance company, or 3rd party drivers insurers, dependent upon liability. As the driver is responsible for ensuring compliance with all regulations for restraint systems, there can be no issue of contributory negligence on the part of any injured child.

However, if an adult passenger is involved in an accident in similar circumstances, there may be contributory negligence if they were not wearing the correct restraint (if fitted) and suffered more serious injuries as a result. The reason for this is that it can be argued that their compensation should be reduced by a certain percentage to reflect their contributory negligence. In other words, they are partly responsible for their own worse injuries because they did not wear a seat belt. This may result in a lower payment for any compensation claim. The driver still has a responsibility to ensure all his passengers are correctly restrained.

The clear message to all drivers is to ensure that all passengers wear a correctly fitted restraint seatbelt, to reduce the risk of injury in the event of an accident.