27-08-2006, 03:09 PM
NewsRoom Wrote:Take your seats By Sean Coughlan
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.
Belt up
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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.
source BBC News Magazine
I do hope they phase this in over a long tme ... my son will not take too kindly to this! :duh:
He is tall for his age, so I'm hoping that will cover him ...