Child safety

Find out what your responsibilities are as a driver in Lower Hutt

Your responsibility as a driver

If you're the driver, you're responsible for making sure passengers under the age of 15 are using an approved car seat or seat belt.

• Children under seven must be in an approved car seat.
• Children aged seven must use an approved car seat if one is available (ie. Uber). If a car seat isn't available, the child must use a seat belt.
• Children aged between eight and 14 must wear a seat belt.
• The seat belt must be worn correctly and kept fastened while the vehicle is moving.
• Passengers 15 years and over are responsible for making sure that they wear their own seat belts correctly and that they keep them fastened while the vehicle is moving.

Bus drivers in vehicles with passenger safety belts are not responsible for ensuring passengers wear them except passengers under the age of 15 sitting in a front seat alongside the driver.

Car Seat Clinics

Did you know, Council began offering free, potentially life-saving car seat clinics to the community in 2021? A need for these clinics was found after recognising that car seat retailers generally don’t offer this service - mainly due to the task requiring a trained on-site technician, which is not seen as cost-effective.

Car seats are only safe if they’re fitted correctly for the child and the car. Installing a car seat is often not a straightforward process and there is a lack of support and/or education for parents, families, and caregivers.

Car seats are also expensive and have a shelf life. Now more than ever there’s a lot of hand-me-ups between friends and families but these seats are not necessarily protective if they have ‘expired’ or if they’ve suffered any impact damage.

Since 2020, police have reported a sharp increase in the number of car seats that weren’t attached to the car, were expired, or deemed otherwise unsafe. In some cases, tamariki aren’t in car seats at all!

We run monthly Car Seat Clinics out of our neighbourhood hubs. Here are the sessions coming up:

How to wear a seat belt

Most seat belt stretch automatically to the correct length when you fasten them and lock only if the vehicle stops suddenly.

If your vehicle has a non-retractable safety belt, you will need to adjust its length before you fasten it. There should be just enough room to slide the palm of your hand between the belt and your chest.

Note: Never put an adult and a child together in the same seat belt.

Special exceptions

You don’t have to wear a seat belt if you:

• hold a current doctor’s certificate that says you don’t have to wear a safety belt for medical reasons
• are driving and you’re unable to reach the controls (for example, brake, signals, dip switch) with a safety belt on
• are a taxi driver plying for hire (your passengers, however, must wear safety belts)
• are a driver or passenger who is getting in and out of the vehicle often to read meters, deliver goods, etc. In these situations you must not travel faster than 50km/h
• are reversing and it is difficult to see while wearing a safety belt.

For more information

• Requirements for using child restraints in New Zealand