road safety

seatbelts

Wearing a seat belt can save your life. But despite Victoria having very high compliance with seat belt wearing, it’s sobering to observe that around one in five vehicle occupants killed on Victoria’s roads each year are not wearing seat belts.

The road rules applying to seat belt use are there for a good reason, and are arguably the simplest rules to comply with - it only takes a click to avoid a penalty of $234 (as of 1/7/09 but indexed for inflation each year) and three demerit points.

drivers

A driver must wear a seat belt properly adjusted and fastened whether the vehicle is moving, or stationary, if the seating position is fitted with a seat belt (which all passenger vehicles since 1971 should have).  Drivers do not have to wear seat belts when the vehicle is parked or reversing – but wearing a seat belt when reversing is safer.

From 9 November 2009, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that all passengers, including children and adults, are wearing a child restraint or a seatbelt. The driver can be booked for failing to do so. This rule does not apply to the driver of a bus, or a taxi with passengers 16 years old or older.

passengers

From December 2008, the rules require all passengers in a motor vehicle to be restrained in a seating position, and not sharing the seat with anyone else. This means that once all seating positions fitted with seatbelts are occupied, no additional passengers may be carried in the vehicle.For example a car with five seats and five seatbelts must only have a maximum of five people travelling in it.

There are some exceptions to this - for example early model cars with no seatbelts in the rear seats that are not required to have them fitted.

Pregnant women are required to wear seat belts, because in the event of a crash, it is much safer for mother and baby.  Ensure the lap part of the belt is below the bulge, securely fitted over the upper thighs.

From 9 November 2009, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that all passengers, including children and adults, are wearing a child restraint or a seatbelt. The driver can be booked for failing to do so. This rule does not apply to the driver of a bus, or a taxi with passengers 16 years old or older.

child restraints

From 9 November 2009 all passengers under the age of seven must be restrained in a suitable, approved child restraint that is properly fastened and adjusted. The rules regarding the correct child restraint are covered in the child restraint section.

exemptions

The driver of a minibus or taxi is exempt from the above requirement for passengers under one year of age only if there is no suitable child restraint available and the child is not in the front seats.  RACV believes that children should always be restrained, but unfortunately metropolitan taxi companies do not currently provide vehicles with child restraints.  However some are happy to let you use your own restraint provided you give advance notice.  When booking, you should ask for a taxi with anchor bolts.  Some areas in regional Victoria do provide child restraints on request.

Some other limited exemptions to seat belt use also exist, but these are restricted to people engaged in door-to-door services such as garbage collection and people with medical disabilities.