Car insurance - Tips & Advice - Road Safety

Driving safely is important for you and all your passengers, particularly when you have a baby on board. Here’s how to protect your baby while in the car, plus how Direct Line could help if your baby seat is damaged along the way.

Your baby relies on you to take care of them and this is especially so when there is potential danger around. If you don’t buckle your baby up securely in a baby seat you could be risking their life. With the new child restraints law in place since September 2006, you could also be putting yourself at risk of prosecution if you do not comply.

The child restraints law outlines ages and heights at which children must be restrained in the car, and by what device, for their own safety. This is because when a vehicle is involved in a crash it comes to an abrupt halt. In a crash at just 30mph, an unrestrained child would be thrown forward with a force 30 to 60 times their body weight. A restraint is designed to keep people away from the vehicle structure and distribute the forces of a crash over the strongest parts of the human body, with the minimum damage to soft tissue.

According to the THINK! Road Safety Website, for babies, the skull needs particular protection as it is very flexible and bone is not fully developed until six or seven years old – even the smallest impact could cause significant deformation and damage the brain. The infant rib cage and pelvis also need more protection than an adult safety belt can give.

Parents can find full details of the child restraints law (including a PDF document) and the measures it requires at THINK! Road Safety. Details are given for children of all ages. However, for babies there are some specifics:

Best for baby

A restraint system needs to limit forward head movement in a frontal impact and provide protection from intrusion in a side impact. The best type of child restraint for early childhood is a child safety seat where the harness secures the child and any crash forces over a wide area. For children up to 13kg in weight the only solution is a rear-facing baby seat. However, this should not be used next to a frontal air bag system.

When the child grows too tall for the adjustable harnesses of a baby seat and the subsequent front-facing child seat (usually at a weight exceeding 18kg), a booster seat should be used. This raises the seating position of the child so that an adult seat belt can lie correctly across the chest and low on the pelvis. Between 22 and 36kg a booster seat should be used.

In all cases, the restraint needs to comply with regulations, and the manufacturer’s instructions must be followed when placing the child in its protection. If you remove the seat for any reason, you should consult these instructions every time you install it. Even the smallest change in application could put a baby at risk.

Buying a restraint

The advice given by the Department for Transport is to try before you buy: that is, test whether your baby fits in the seat correctly and whether the seat suits your car type. You can get advice about local suppliers of child restraints and baby seats from the Road Safety Department at your local council. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Government’s incentive, Think Road Safety, produce a helpful leaflet that you can print out at childcarseats.gov.uk. This includes advice such as taking your time when you buy and ensuring the device meets the United Nations standard Regulation 44.03, or the subsequent standard 44.04. You should look for the 'E' mark in this case. You should also avoid mail order and never buy secondhand. Even car seats donated by family in good faith could be past their sell-by date and faulty.

How Direct Line can help

At Direct Line we recognise how important it is to have the correct restraint for your baby while in the car. So if you have Direct Line Car Insurance (Comprehensive or Third Party, Fire and Theft), and your baby or child seat is damaged by fire or theft, we will cover the cost of a new replacement. Comprehensive policyholders are also covered for damage by accident.

Details on the terms and conditions of Direct Line Car Insurance can be found on this website. Buy today and you could benefit from an instant online discount of up to 10%.