Child safety: Rules on car seats

Dutch traffic law states that, above all, drivers must not bring others into harm's way, including their own passengers.

The website of the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management offers all the information you may possibly need to know about the use of seat belts and child seats in the Netherlands. You can also download the brochure 'Carrying children safely by car' from Postbus 51.

However, according to the ANWB the basic rule states that children 1.35 meters and under must use an approved car seat, with the labels ECE R44/03 and R44/04, appropriate to the child’s height and weight.

In the front seat of the car:

If seat belts are available:

1. Children of at least 1.35 meters and adults are required to wear a seat belt
2. Children shorter than 1.35 meters are required to use an appropriate and approved car seat.

In the back seat of the car:

If seat belts are available:

1. Children of at least 1.35 meters and adults are required to wear a seat belt.
Exception: in buses with standing area and in regional transport buses.
2. Children shorter than 1.35 meters are required to use an appropriate and approved car seat.
Exception 1: in taxis and buses: children 3 years and older are to use the available seat belts, younger children are not required to use seat belts.
Exception 2: children 3 years and older may use an adult seat belt in instances where they’re travelling with someone other than their parent or guardian and it cannot be reasonably expected that this person should have a child’s car seat in their possession. This would be for limited distances, for example transporting a sports team to an away game.

If NO seat belts are available:

Since 1 May 2008 one may NOT transport more people in a vehicle than there are seatbelts.

Adults (18 years of age and older) shorter than 1.35 meters are not required to use a special car seat of any kind, but certainly may.

Airbags

Children may not use a backward-facing child’s seat in a passenger seat with an airbag unless the airbag is deactivated. Should the airbag go off it would throw the child with great force and could cause grievous harm.

Storage areas (trunk or boot) and trailers

Passengers are never allowed to ride in the baggage or storage areas of a vehicle (trunk, boot, or truck bed), nor may they be transported in trailers of any sort.

Travel abroad

The rules for child safety seats and seat belts are based on European Union Policy, which specifies that children under 1.5 meters must travel in approved and size-appropriate child seats, but individual countries may make exceptions and adjustments (such as in height) in their own laws, as the Dutch have chosen to do. The Dutch exception is, thusly, only applicable in the Netherlands.

In other countries the law may be more strict (up to 1.5 meters) and will be applied to foreign motorists.

General safety

The rules above still do not guarantee optimal safety, so here are a few extra tips:

• Parents who bring their children to school in the car need to be extra aware of the safety of those children who come to school on foot or with their bicycles. Please do not park on the sidewalks and give bikes and pedestrians plenty of room. It’s best to park a a bit further away from the school and walk the remaining together with your child.
• Teach children to leave the car on the sidewalk side, not on the street.
• Teach children that seeing is not the same as being seen. Just because the child sees a car coming, doesn’t mean the driver sees the child.
• Teach children that cars need braking distance and time to avoid obstacles like children running out in front of them. Children have no experience behind the wheel and do not understand that cars can’t stop immediately or that they have limited sight when reversing.
• Choose colourful or even reflective clothing for your children so they’re easier to see in traffic situations.

(Translated from www.anwb.nl)