Seat Belts
The holidays are a great chance to relax, spend time with family and friends and catch up on those things that you do not get a chance to do during the term. Going for a day trip to the Snow or visiting regional areas, reading lots of books and playing board games.
I really enjoy being in the carpark for yard-duty in the morning and afternoon where I get the opportunity to greet parents and students in the morning and wish them an enjoyable evening as they leave for the day.
We often spend a lot of time communicating appropriate carpark etiquette and guidelines. This communication also discusses some basic approaches which help to make traffic flow more efficient, including not leaving your car in the drop-off and pick-up zones, driving slowly throughout the area and always using pedestrian crossings. As a school, we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that our students are always safe. This theme goes beyond the school gates when it comes to following the rules of the road, of which there are many to pay attention to.
Each year, we have the RACV come to chat with our younger students about road and car safety. They discuss matters such as who should sit in the front seat of a vehicle and who requires a booster seat. The following link includes recommendations, diagrams and support on these topics; Child car seats & restraints | information & advice - RACV
Vic Roads is another site I refer to regularly as my child grows older and taller. It has a substantial amount of information regarding the selection of child restraints across different age groups (children from birth to 4 years, 4-7 years and between 7-16 years) Child restraints : VicRoads.
Did you know only once students are 145cm tall, can they use an adult seatbelt without a booster seat? We see many students unrestrained in the car, not using a booster seat or sitting in the front seat at an age where they should be in the back of the vehicle.
Can children sit in the front seat?
As a general rule, children should sit in the back seat (second row of seats). The main reason for this is the risk of injury from an airbag if they are not tall enough to be travelling in the front seat.
The law states that:
- from birth to under 4 years children must travel in the back seat in cars with two or more rows of seats;
- children aged 4 to 7 years can only travel in the front seat if all available back seats are being used by younger children;
- children aged 7 years and older can legally travel in the front seat.
However, research shows that children under 12 years are much safer travelling in the back seat as indicated in VicRoads’ ‘Seat belts & child restraints’ page.
My hope for Term 4, is that students come back ready for a term of learning and engagement and that our parents continue to follow the rules and laws around seat belts, booster seats and speed signs to ensure that we finish the school year safely.