Picture it: you have a nine-year-old child who is highly image-conscious, picky about what she wears and already has a crush on someone from a boy band. You ask her to use a booster seat on every car journey: what’s the response? It could be a common scene in the coming months. From September 18, all children younger than 12 — or shorter than 4ft 5in (135cm), whichever they reach first — must use a booster seat when a new UK law, to meet a European Commission directive on car safety, comes into force. Failure to comply could mean on-the-spot fines for parents of £30, or £500 if the case goes to court.
It’s a change that’s already causing concern among parents, not simply because it could prove expensive and inconvenient. No one wants to put their child at risk, but the way this law has been framed means it is confusing and, to some, unenforceable. All children over 3 and under 135cm will have to use a booster seat, a simple platform that puts a child in the right position so that an adult seatbelt gives most protection. Some come with extra back or side protection (they cost from about £10, see panel). The new rules will also prevent parents cramming the back seat with children: the number of people in a car will not be able to exceed the number of seats with belts or child restraints.
Jo Foster, from Berkshire, a mother of three children aged 16 months, 5 and 7, predicts that the law will be problematic for many families. “I can’t see how it will be policed or how people like myself will overcome the issue of a shared school run,” she says.
Many parents are concerned that the law is so confusing it will be difficult to comply. For example, there is exemption from the rules on short and occasional journeys of “unexpected necessity”, but how you define necessity is a minefield. Why the seemingly arbitrary height limit? And will police officers be forced to carry tape measures to check whether big kids are within the law? A more practical approach, some say, would be to use just age, instead of height, as the restriction.
The Department for Transport (DfT) is acknowledging these difficulties of interpretation by recommending a softly-softly approach on implementation. “The police won’t be enforcing this with a rod of iron when the law starts,” a spokesman told us. For the first few months the focus will be on educating parents.”
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There is, however, some meaning behind this seeming madness. Safety campaigners are convinced of the evidence supporting the effectiveness of car seats in saving young lives. The Government’s Think! road safety campaign says that in 2004 a total of 7,696 children aged 11 or under were involved in car accidents; of those, 24 were killed and 395 seriously hurt. The average British child is 90 per cent more likely to survive a crash if sitting in a properly fitted booster seat. And DfT research predicts that, based on 2004 accident statistics, the new booster seat law will mean 1,774 fewer casualties a year in children aged three to 11 with over 700 less in the 9 to 11 age group alone.
Jon Baker is one of the many accident and emergency doctors supporting the move. He says he and his colleagues have seen too many children admitted to A&E with horrible injuries because they’d been strapped into an adult seat belt, when they should have been using a booster seat. “The main problem is that seatbelts are positioned too high so that the strap falls across the child’s neck,” says Baker, who is a consultant at the Lister Hospital, Hertfordshire.
“If you’re in an accident, that can cause strangulation, a tear of the carotid artery — which is usually fatal — and trauma to the larynx. Also, without a booster seat, it’s also easier for a child to slip out of the top half of a seat belt. And if they’re just held by the waist, they can get whiplash, a lumbar fracture and paraplegia.”
It sounds alarming but Dr Baker says that in the whirl of everyday life it’s easy to forget how nasty things can get in an accident. According to the DfT, only 26 per cent of parents with children aged 10 to 11 always use a booster seat.
And even if you don’t agree with the height restriction, it’s not totally arbitrary. According to the DfT, the new law springs from a European directive that originally proposed that all children under 150 cm (the average height of a 12 to 13-year-old) had to use a booster. But, after consultations, it concluded that 135cm would be more workable, since this was the average height of more persuadable nine to ten-year-olds, and the injury risk fell off markedly above this height.
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George Marshall-Thornhill, of the motoring department at Which?, concedes that parents of older children may have a battle on their hands. “There could be a stigma attached to them, especially if friends no longer need them,” he says.
So how do you best apply powers of persuasion when a strong-minded eight-year-old refuses to conform? “Whenever you are trying to engage a child in something they don’t want to do, you need to make it seem fun,” says Carol Burniston, a consultant clinical child psychologist at the Eastern Wakefield Primary Care Trust. “Present the facts to children without scaring them. With 10 or 11-year-olds, it might be helpful to negotiate a reward for using it.”
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, booster cushions are not as protective as booster seats with backs and side wings (from £60), particularly in a side-impact crash. Remember, too, that not every booster seat fits all cars and that even those that comply with safety regulations are effective only if fitted correctly. Up to 80 per cent of booster seats are not. Shops such as Halfords should help you find the right seat to fit your car.
If it all seems a confusing minefield, it’s worth the effort: an unrestrained child in a car crash at just 30mph is propelled with a force up to 60 times his or her body weight. Dr Baker suspects his wife thinks he’s fussy because of the care he takes when he straps his kids into the back seat. But he knows exactly what can happen if he gets it wrong.
THE NEW LAW
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Who needs car seats? From September 18 all children under 12 or shorter than 135cm (whichever is reached first) must use either a rear, forward-facing seator a booster seat.
Any exceptions? The only exceptions will be children in the rear of taxis with no child seat and those making “unplanned journeys”; ie, emergency trips or taking an occasional lift from a friend in cars where no restraint is fitted.
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And if parents don’t comply? They face an on-the-spot fine of £30, or £500 if the case goes to court.
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www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk
SAFER SEATS
In recent Which? tests of car seats, the following came out on top:
BEST BOOSTER SEATS (for children up to 36kg/135cm)
Concord Lift Protect (£80) There is excellent head support and the base offers good leg support, says Which?. It comes in a wide range of fabrics, all of which are machine washable, and is slightly cheaper than others in this age group. (01273 764744; www.concord.de)
Concord Lift Evo PT (£90) This seat has side wings that are positioned to give additional support to the abdominal area, which is vulnerable to injury in a crash. Which? says the seat’s adjustable recline angle makes it a snugger fit.
Maxi-Cosi Rodi XP (£90) Which? found this one to offer good belt-mounting and said that it was “easy to position the seatbelt correctly”. It did point out that the seat cover is handwash only (most can be stuck in a machine), but on the safety front it is among the best. (020-8236 0707; www.maxi-cosi.com)
BEST CAR SEATS (for children under 3)
Maxi-Cosi Cabriofix (£160; from 0kg) Which? impact tests revealed a low risk of injury with this seat. It is easy to fit and light to carry. It features an Easyfix base (similar to Isofix) which makes installation easy and Which? says it provides “excellent head support”.
Maxi-Cosi Priorifix (£220; from 9kg) Very heavy, but no need to remove once it is fitted. It is comfortable and Which? found it to have “good crash support”. It features a support leg that must be used and which clearly indicates if the seat has been fitted correctly.
Britax Duo Plus (£190; from 9kg) Not all seat manufacturers have cottoned on to the idea that Isofix-compatible seats make life easier for parents. Britax has led the way on this. Which? congratulated it for this model’s clear fitting instructions.