Keeping our little travellers safe: a guide to car & car restraint safety in Victoria
As parents, we would move mountains to keep our kids safe. When it comes to daily car travel - pickups and drop offs, weekends away, and quick trips to the shops - the car is where many of our most precious and biggest risks can happen 🚗
Shockingly, research conducted through Kidsafe Victoria, found that up to 90% of child care restraints are not fitted or being used correctly^ ⚠️
In a car accident 🚨 the risk of sustaining a life-threatening injury is 4-6 times greater when a child car restraint is incorrectly used or fitted. Therefore, we have a large proportion of children travelling in cars, that are at an increased risk of harm in the unfortunate event of a car accident.
To eradicate the risk of car restrains being installed incorrectly, parents are encouraged to have all car restraints checked by a professional fitter to ensure safety.
Top car seat safety tips:
✔️ Buy or rent a car seat that complies with the Australian and New Zealand Standard (AS/NZS 1754. It is illegal for an overseas car restraint to be used that does not meet these standards.
✔️ It is important to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and shoulder markers when assessing if the restraint accurately fits your child.
✔️ Every time your child goes into the car, check and fasten the straps as
required.
✔️ Be sure to check your child’s car seat or booster frequently, adjusting it as needed when they grow.
🚫 Kidsafe Victoria recommends that a car seat not be used once it is 10 years old.
🚫 If a child restraint has been involved in a crash, it should not be used again,
even if there is no visible impact (some restraint brands offer assistance with this - worth looking into!)*
🚫 No bulky clothes whilst in a car restraint, as this can make the harness ineffective.
It is incredibly important that a child maintains using a car restraint that matches their size, not their age. It will be safest for your child to be kept in this seat, even if age-based guidelines offer differing advice.
A rearward-facing restraint is safest for a child. Our children should stay rearward facing as long as possible, ideally this is until a child is two or three years of age. This illustrates that it is important as parents, that we go above and beyond the minimum regulations to keep our children as safe as possible, as Australian laws suggest that a child can be in either a rearward or forward facing restraint from six months of age. A good reminder is that car restraints are about safety in traffic accidents and not about keeping a child comfortable.
Safe Seats, Safe Kids (Victoria’s child car restraint fitting and safety check program), supported by Transurban, are providing a car restraint fitting program throughout Victorian western suburbs in 2025. Please visit this link, to access availability and book in.
Being a parent means constantly learning, adjusting, and doing the best you can with the information you have at a certain time. Every check you do and every correct buckle click is another layer of protection for your child. Next time you hear that satisfying click of a restraint harness, take a moment to feel proud. You are doing an amazing job keeping your child as safe as possible while travelling in the car! 🙏🏻
Stay tuned for a blog coming tackling safety when travelling (planes, taxi, rideshare) throughout Australia.
This blog is written by Shayna, a NICU/Emergency Nurse and Mum to her young daughter.
References:
^https://www.kidsafevic.com.au/national-kidsafe-day/?mc_cid=db3945096e&mc_eid=c62f3c6ff7
*https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Safety_Child_car_seats/
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