Seatbelts and child seat/ restraints are designed to reduce the risk of injury in a collision and could potentially save your life.

Did you know?

• It is the law to wear a seatbelt when travelling in a car.
• If you are under 135cm in height or 12 years old, legally you need to be sitting in an appropriate child seat/restraint.

Seatbelts

This is a topic important to both children and parents, helping them to understand why it is necessary to use them properly.

Most vehicles are fitted with seatbelts - there are some exceptions for example some classic cars. But the law states that if there is a seatbelt fitted it MUST be worn.

Until a child is 14 years old it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that a child is using their seatbelt (or child seat if applicable). However, once a child turns 14 they are classed as an adult and are responsible for using the seatbelt themselves. If someone is found to not be wearing a seatbelt they can be fined up to £500!

Wearing a seatbelt saves over 2,000 lives a year!

Child Seats

There are different types of seats for children depending on their height and weight. Using the correct seat and ensuring it is properly fitted is really important.

Some main points to note

Seats where possible should be fitted in the rear of a car - avoiding the use of the front passenger seat where possible.

If there is an air bag fitted in the front passenger seat of the car, the airbag must be deactivated if a rear-facing car seat is to be used. This is because it can cause injuries to the child should the air bag go off.

If using a seatbelt, make sure it fits properly over the shoulder and away from the neck.

Try to leave the seatbelt on when sitting in the car even when it is not moving, only remove it when you are about to get out.

Activities to do

This topic opens up many different activities that you might like to do in school - for example a survey, update your board, measure each others' heights and /or create a leaflet to take home.