Department of the Environment

The Department of the Environment has made a statutory Rule entitled the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts by Children in Front Seats) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (S.R. 2007 No. 8).

These Regulations come into operation on 27th February 2007.

These Regulations make provision relating to the wearing of seat belts and other restraints by children aged less than fourteen in motor vehicles, and by children and adults in the rear of buses.

The Regulations amend the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts) Regulations 1993 (the “Wearing of Seat Belts Regulations”). They implement certain requirements of Council Directive 2003/20/EC on the compulsory use of safety belts and child-restraints in vehicles (OJ No L 115 9.5.2003, p. 63) (the “Seat Belts Directive”).

The Wearing of Seat Belts Regulations prescribe the types of seat belt or child restraint (the “appropriate seat belt”) that should be worn by children under 14 of different ages and sizes. Different provision is made depending on whether a child is a “small child”or a “large child”. The definition of a “small child” for the purposes of the Wearing of Seat Belts Regulations so that a “small child” is now a child aged under 12 years and less than 135 centimetres rather than 150 centimetres in height. (A “large child”, for the purposes of the Wearing of Seat Belt Regulations, is a child under 14 who is not a “small child”.)

The Regulation s amend the exceptions in relation to the prohibition, in Article 24(3) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, against driving a motor vehicle with a child in the rear of the vehicle unrestrained by the appropriate restraint. In particular, the exceptions for small children wearing adult belts in cases where no appropriate seat belt is available in various types of vehicle are removed, along with the exception for a child under 1 year travelling in a carry cot.

Buses

The Regulations require adults and children aged 14 and over to wear seat belts where available in the rear of all classes of motor vehicle. This new requirement does not apply where a large or small bus is being used to provide a local service in a built-up area, or where the bus is constructed or adapted for the carriage of standing passengers and standing is permitted.

There are similar provisions in relation to children aged 3 or over but under 14 as regards motor vehicles other than large buses by amending regulations 9 and 10 of the Wearing of Seat Belts Regulations. The amendments remove the existing exception from the requirements of Article 24(3) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, for small buses and other motor vehicles which are not passenger cars, in relation to such children. The exception is retained however for large buses.

The Regulations also make various minor and consequential amendments to the Wearing of Seat Belts Regulations to the definitions of an “appropriate” seat belt so as to exclude the possibility of an adult seat being “appropriate” for the purposes of those Regulations in relation to small children.

A copy of the regulatory impact assessment has been produced and may be obtained from the Department of the Environment, Road Safety Division website at– www.roadsafetyni.gov.uk.

A copy of Council Directive 2003/20/EC can be obtained from TSO, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD