NSW seatbelt and child restraint rules

Drivers and adult passengers

Everyone in the car wears a belt on every trip, however short or slow.

• The driver's belt must be fastened and adjusted properly. Buckled with a twisted, slack sash does not count.
• Passengers 16 or older must wear a belt in any seat, front or back, and keep it on while the car moves.
• From 16, a passenger who rides unbelted can be fined themselves.
• If someone has not buckled up, ask them to before you move off, and wait until they have.
• Reversing without a belt is allowed for full licence holders only. On L or P plates the belt stays on.
• A medical exemption only counts with a current doctor's certificate kept in the car.

The driver answers for under 16s

For younger passengers, the law looks straight at the person behind the wheel.

• The driver alone is responsible for any passenger under 16 who is not properly restrained.
• That holds even when the child's parent is in the car with you.
• The fine and demerit points land on you, not on the child.
• A child who refuses to buckle up is still your problem, so stay put until they are restrained.

A 12 year old in the back who will not wear a belt? If police stop you, the driver is the one penalised.

Child restraints by age

The law sets the type of restraint by age, with height deciding the last step.

• Under 6 months: rear-facing, however big the baby is.
• 6 months to 4 years: rear-facing, or forward-facing with its own inbuilt harness.
• 4 to 7 years: a harnessed forward-facing seat or a booster, never the adult belt alone.
• 7 to 16: a booster or an adult belt. Keep the booster until the child is about 145 cm tall and the belt fits.
• Use an approved restraint that meets the Australian Standard, fitted to the correct anchor point exactly as its maker instructs.

Height, not just age, decides when the booster goes. A 9 year old at 135 cm still needs one.

Front seats, sharing and laps

In a car with two or more rows, the back is where young children belong.

• Under 4: never in the front row.
• 4 to 7: in front only when every back seat is taken by another child under 7, and still in their proper restraint.
• A single free back seat means the child rides in the back.
• One person per belt: no sharing, and no child held on a lap, where a crash can crush or throw them.

Places no one rides, and children left in cars

Some risks have nothing to do with how the belt is worn.

• Nobody travels in the boot, a ute tray or any part not built for passengers.
• Arms, heads and hands stay inside the car, never out the window.
• In an old car with fewer belts than people, an unbelted passenger is at greater risk in the front than the back.
• A child must never be left alone in a parked car. Even on a mild 22 degree day, the inside can turn dangerous within minutes.
• Paying for fuel or ducking into a chemist? Take the child with you.

Wearing a belt well

A belt only protects you when it sits in the right places.

• Low, flat and firm: lap part across the hip bones, sash over the middle of the shoulder, with no twists or slack.
• Set the head restraint level with the back of your head to guard against whiplash when you are hit from behind.
• Pregnant? Lap belt under the bump across the hips, sash between the breasts and beside the bump, never across it.
• A seatbelt is the most effective safety device in the car. Airbags are built to work with it and never replace it.
• Belt up at 40 km/h too, because even slow crashes can throw an unbelted person into the dash.