Child car seat legal requirements

3-17 years
Children over 3 years of age may occupy a forward facing front seat of a vehicle only if they are using a safety belt or an appropriate child restraint. Otherwise, they must travel in a rear seat. Children under 150 centimetres in height and weighing less than 36 kilograms (generally children up to 11/12 years old) must use the correct child seat or booster cushion.

Passengers aged 3 years or over must wear safety belts where they are fitted, when travelling by bus.

A person aged 12 years or more who is under 150 cm in height is not required to use a seatbelt even if this is provided but they must use an appropriate child restraint when travelling in cars or goods vehicles fitted with safety belts. They are of course free to wear the belt but people under this height are outside the limits of the safety belt design parameters, so there is a possibility that a safety belt could be injurious to them in some circumstances. For this reason, the law allows them to choose for themselves to belt up or not to belt up. This is irrespective of whether they are sitting in the front or back of the vehicle.