North: Crackdown on child safety in cars

Children up to the age of five will have to use booster seats under proposals to improve car safety in the North, it emerged today.

A fifth of children still travel without any form of restraint, a statistic the British government described as unacceptable.

A new consultation proposes tougher legislation to combat the problem including:

:: Compulsory child seats for the under threes.

:: Booster seats for children aged three or more and up to 4ft 5in.

:: A ban on rear-facing baby seats being used in seats with a passenger air bag.

Harry Green, of the Department for the Environment, said: “Ensuring that children use booster seats until they are about four or five years old will bring real improvements to their safety.

“Seat belts are designed for adults and making sure our children use appropriate child restraints will afford them greater protection in the event of a collision.”

On the significance of the proposed legislation, Mr Green said: “The correct use of seat belts and child restraints has an important role to play in reducing child deaths and injuries on Northern Ireland’s roads.

“The annual seat belt survey undertaken earlier this year indicates that whilst overall seat belt wearing by children has increased, around one in five children aged between five and 13 still travel unrestrained in the rear seats of cars. This is simply not acceptable.”

Last year 673 children were injured while travelling in cars or light goods vehicles in the North.

Of that number 84% were found to be wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision, 5% were not wearing a seatbelt and for 10% it could not be established.

A European directive which, which will take effect from May 2006, requires child restraints to be used at all times, with few exemptions.

The British government consultation will run until February 6.