Infants and children are among our most vulnerable road users: they rely on their carers to safely buckle them into a car seat that's right for their age and size. Getting this right is vital.
The NRMA report, Fund Child Seats, is calling for improved education, funding and incentives to be made available to families in need to help shift child road fatalities towards zero.
In the last 10 years, 148 child passengers aged between zero and seven years were killed in road traffic crashes in Australia. The tragic reality is that road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for Australian children between one and 14 years of age.
A deeper dive into statistics also shows overrepresentation of fatalities for young children from low socio-economic backgrounds and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities.
What does the NRMA want?
The NRMA is calling for the following measures to help save young lives:
- Government funding for free child car seats and professional installation for low-income families and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
- Child car seat diversion programs - designed to help educate parents on how best to restrain children in the appropriate child restraint for their age and size - offered to all drivers who receive an initial infringement notice for a child who is not properly restrained.
- Car seat diversion programs must have long-term sustainable funding with additional support programs for people with financial hardship to help access a free child car seat.
- Child restraint installation should be a mandatory program for every council and include targeted fitting days for disadvantaged community members.
- Funding through councils to ensure that all residents with children can access free child car restraint checks or installations, including a dedicated service for disadvantaged community members.
- Better education for buyers and sellers on safe and compliant second-hand restraints that can be bought, sold or handed down.
