Baby/toddler/child seat legislation

T-Maxx

What exactly is the current legislation pertaining to the seating arrangement of our kids?

In specific:

1. The requirements for sitting in the front passenger seat? (forward/rear facing and which system)
2. Till what age do they need the "booster" seat?

My kids are 4 & 5 with another one due shortly.:o:D

jayok

The legistation is in relation to the size, weight and age of the child.

Starting from the top, a child less must be 12 years+ OR 150cm before they can sit in the front. Before this they must be in the back. However, you can use a rear-facing car seat with a baby in the front provided there are no active airbags in the front seat (can kill the child).

Regarding the seats, they are three groups and a classed by weight:

1. Group 0: 0 - 9Kgs - must be rear facing (head protection, etc, etc)
2. Group 1: 9 - 18Kgs - front facing but with proper shoulder straps and protection for body
3. Group 2: 15-36Kgs - booster seat. Two parts seat and back-rest. Used with the 3point seat belt to protect the neck and body of the child.

Not sure which is Irish and which is EU, but its there somewhere.

T-Maxx

Thanks.

Just to be clear; they must use the booster seat till they're >36kg?:eek:

jayok

Yep - pretty much. I mean if your child weights 34 kgs then a Garda isn't going to weight him/her. But this is about recommendations for safety. The booster seat is used to ensure that the 3 point seat belt is position correctly along the childs collar-bone and not on his/her neck. Also, that the lap section actually sits on the hip-bone and not the abdomen. If you child is big enough to satisfy this without a booster seat then they are ok.

crosstownk

Some good info here > http://www.rsa.ie/publication/publication/upload/Nat_Safety_in_Cars.pdf

Steve

It seems to be covered by:

"ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 3) REGULATIONS, 1991."

There's a lot of confusing reading in it so I'm not sure of the exact limits on age/size/weight.

2. In these Regulations—

"appropriate child restraint" means an approved child restraint which is appropriate to the user by virtue of the weight range indicated on the child restraint;

"child restraint" means a device designed for use by a child of not more than 36 kilograms in weight and which is fitted directly to suitable belt anchorages or is held in place by the restraining action of a safety belt and which is either equipped with an assembly of straps and a securing buckle or uses the straps and buckle assembly of the safety belt so as to have the effect of diminishing the risk of injury to its wearer in the event of a collision or of abrupt vehicle deceleration;