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/ Back to home / Keeping your child well / Safety and accident prevention / Child restraints (car seats)
Child restraints (car seats)Disclaimer: This fact sheet is for educational use only. Please consult your doctor or other health professional to make sure this information is right for your child. Information to help you use your child restraint correctlyThere are a number of different child restraints available in New Zealand and all vary in design.
The following information is available to help you use child restraints correctly so that you will greatly reduce the chance of your child being injured or killed in a car accident.
On the Safe2Go website1:
ChildRestraintSafety9 - this website, developed by a Safe2Go technician, aims to assist in the education of child restraint use in New Zealand.
 Back to TopCar seat rental schemesYou can hire child restraints from car seat rental schemes throughout New Zealand. For information about renting child restraints, see car seat rentals10 at the Plunket website or look under Plunket in the phone book. You can also ask for information about rental schemes at car seat retailers and from Safe2Go technicians. Many Maori and Pacific health organisations also run car seat rental programmes.
Back to TopCar safety for school-aged childrenAdult seat belts don't fit kids. There is a large and consistent body of evidence confirming that children have fewer serious injuries and deaths in car crashes if they use a booster seat rather than just an adult seat belt. To be safe, children need to be in booster seats until they are 148cm tall. For the majority of children this is somewhere between nine and 12 years of age. (See Car safety for school-aged children).
There are people working on changing the law in New Zealand to reflect this. The British changed their law last September to require children to be in the correct child restraints until they reach 12 years of age or 135cm in height.
The RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) in the UK has a very good summary and recommendations for best practice on their parents’ website11.
Back to TopWhere to go for more informationOn this website
RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents), UK
The website of the UK RoSPA12 (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) has recommendations for best practice regarding carrying children safely in cars.
Website: http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/
Car seat retailers
Check your local phone listings.
ChildRestraintSafety
A website developed by a Safe2Go technician to assist in the education of child restraint use in New Zealand.
Website: http://childrestraintsafety.com
Child Safety Foundation of New Zealand
The activities of the Foundation are aimed, principally, but not exclusively at the safety of those children under the age of seven years. Foundation efforts are aimed at parent, caregiver, pre-school and primary school groups. Head office physical address: 15 Veronica Street, New Lynn Auckland, New Zealand Postal address: PO Box 56-313, Dominion Road, Auckland Phone: 64 9 827 6182 or call free on 0800 CHILD SAFETY (0800 244 5372) Fax: 64 9 827 6184 Website: http://www.childsafety.co.nz/ Land Transport New Zealand
Address: PO Box 2840, Wellington Call the helpdesk free on 0800 699 000 Email: info@landtransport.govt.nz Website: http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/ Plunket
For information about Plunket car seat rental schemes, see car seat rentals13 at the Plunket website or look under Plunket in your phone book. For general information about car seats write, phone, fax or email your query. Postal address: PO Box 5474, Wellington 6145
PlunketLine: 0800 933 922
National office phone: 64 4 471 0177
National office fax: 64 4 471 0190
Email: plunket@plunket.org.nz
Website: http://www.plunket.org.nz/
Safe2Go
Safe2Go, a joint initiative between Land Transport New Zealand and the Accident Compensation Corporation, trains Safe2Go technicians in the correct installation and use of child restraints. Safe2Go technicians are available to help you to use your child restraint correctly. For free advice on choosing and using child restraints, contact a Safe2Go technician14 in your area.
Website: http://www.safe2go.co.nz/
Safekids New Zealand
Safekids offers a number of services and programmes designed to contribute to the reduction of child injury. Physical address: Fifth Floor, Cornwall Complex, Building 15, 40 Claude Road, Epsom, Auckland Postal address: PO Box 26 488, Epsom, Auckland Phone: 64 9 630 9955 Fax: 64 9 630 9961 Email: infocentre@safekids.org.nz (To access data and materials from the Safekids National Information & Resource Centre) Website: http://www.safekids.org.nz/ Back to TopLinks (these are the web addresses for the numbered links in the text above) Back to TopYour notesEndorsement
This fact sheet was endorsed by PSNZ - 04/07/2007
CopyrightFact sheets are subject to copyright. In the interests of information sharing they may be copied but acknowledgement must be given to PSNZ and Starship Foundation. © The Paediatric Society of New Zealand and Starship Foundation 2005 - 2010
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