Dear all,

I was going through a recent flyer from basel-landschaft polizei which says that for kinder bis 7 jahre- kindersitzen is obligatorish. How strictly is this implemented ? My 5 year old is quite tall and she uses the normal seat belt.
Anyone has any experience with this ?

I have a 7 year old boy and he still sits in a booster seat, he complains from time to time but thats the rule for us.
If he sits in the car without a booster seat the seatbelt does not fit properly like it should. In case of an accident , I do not even want to think of what would happen. Just go 30km and hit the breaks..
no way...he will be sitting in his booster for a while longer.

But then again, our rules.

In the US it depends on age , height and weight of the kids. Not sure about Switzerland or Germany.

Hi

I was told by a swiss friend that booster seats are compulsory until the age of 11 Our daughter is 9 and still uses one.

Hi there,

A few years ago I was wondering about the same thing, so I asked a policeman (Kanton ZH) and he told me up to seven years was obligatory. Both my kids were too big for the kiddie seat at six already, but in this well/over-regulated country one has to consider the implications of the insurance and medical aid coverage if you weren't following the law to the letter, so my two kids had to grin and bear it even though they could barely fit in the kiddie chair anymore .

Shaka.

PS. It's the same age (7) concerning allowing kids to ride pillion on a motorcycle.

Hi again,

Just to clarify... I'm not trying to stuff my kids into a baby chair - I meant a "booster seat".

Shaka.

According to Art. 3a und 60 VRV children until 7 years are required to use a child seat. This must conform to the ECE 44 standard. Once over 7 then the child is recommended to use a child seat of some form but may use the seat belt. Once the child is over 150 then the expectation is that they use the normal seat belt.

So in answer to your question 7 is the limit and it will be enforced when they check, but how?! From experience the general answer is they do not enforce it according to the famous fine table, but they have been known (particularly zurich) to invite ie you must turn up, to watch a slide show of the remains of children who were not in the correct seating during a bad accident. I guess that has a better effect than a fine...

Hi Richard,

Is this the same age for motorbikes/scooters? I just tried googling for the info you quoted and couldn't find it. Was it in german? I was considering giving my 8 year old a lift to school by scooter, but wasn't sure on the regs here.

Here is the link to the 'federal office of prevention of accidents',it's for all those who know German or French.

http://www.bfu.ch/produkte/kinderrue...m#Vorschriften



Article 3a and 60 regarding the VRV ( Verkehrsregelverordnung)

Driver and all passengers have to be secured with three point or other safety belts on all seats in the car!
From March 1st 2006 onwards this is also valid for lorries and buses ,only exceptions are drivers and passengers on licensed regional bus services.

- Children younger than 7 years old , have to be secured with a child seat or booster seat ( after ECE norm 44) on all** seats fitted with safety belts.

**Exceptions are cars such as school buses,in this case the 'normal' safety belt is enough


- children between 7-12 years old,have to be secured on ALL seats in the car with either a booster seat or similar ( after ECE norm 44) or the safety belts!

- For passengers 12 years and older it's mandatory to wear the safety belts on ALL seats fitted with them.

Apart from that, you may only transport as many passengers as places are registered in the cars document ( Fahrzeugausweis).This is also ( or especially valid) for children transported on the back seat.

Attention:
You also need to consider the instructions of the car manufacturers as well as the children's safety seat manufactures.
Some seats are NOT ALLOWED to be installed on the front passenger seat (possibly activated Airbag).
Most child seat manufacturers therefore only allow for their seats to be installed on the rear bench of the car.


hope this helps

EE

Thanks to all for your replies. So off I need to go to buy myself that booster seat. Anybody know a good make that is comfortable for 'bigger' sized children ?

My G/F and her young son are currently staying with me, so after reading this thread I went to Coop Baucenter yesterday and picked up a booster seat for the princely sum of Fr 29. It also has a removeable/washable cover and is extremely light weight.

HTH

From a lot of cars I follow it seems compulsory that the child stands in the back peering between the front seats while both parents smoke and lobb the but ends out of the window. In case of a accident the child would be launched through the wind screen. So I dont think booster seats is a top of the police control list althought I think it should be. At the end of the day they are your kids do you want them to be safe. Quote Rules are for idots educated people know what is right and wrong.

DC

Whilst on the subject and as I was not able to find the info in the link above, can anyone confirm that children can sit in the front seat from the age of 12?

Thanks

Yes indeed they can.

I tried to find the information I need in the link earlier in this thread but failed miserably, hence:

Do you know if children under 12 can sit in the front of a car (in a child seat) in a car that does have rear seats but no rear seat belts?

(It's not possible to fit three-point fixing seat belts in the rear of the car and it never had them due to its age).

Thanks

This is the german LEGAL info from the link I posted:

Achtung: Für jedes Land gelten eigene Vorschriften.

Für die Schweiz gilt folgende Regelung
(Art. 3a und 60 VRV*):
Führer und mitfahrende Personen müssen sich während der Fahrt auf allen mit Sicherheitsgurten ausgerüsteten Sitzen angurten, ab 1.3.2006 u. a. auch in Gesellschaftswagen und Lastwagen**.

• Kinder unter 7 Jahren müssen auf allen mit Sicherheitsgurten ausgerüsteten Sitzen mit einer nach ECE-Reglement Nr. 44 geprüften Kinderrückhaltevorrichtung (z. B. Kindersitz, Sitzerhöhung) gesichert werden, ausser auf speziell für Kinder zugelassenen Sitzplätzen (z. B. in Schulbussen). Auf diesen Plätzen genügen die Gurten.
• Kinder von 7 bis 12 Jahren müssen auf allen mit Sicherheitsgurten ausgerüsteten Sitzen mit einer nach ECE-Reglement Nr. 44 geprüften Kinderrückhaltevorrichtung oder den Sicherheitsgurten gesichert werden.
• Personen ab 12 Jahren müssen die vorhandenen Gurten tragen.

and what I actually put into the post was the english translation..
(though maybe with lots of spelling mistakes)

I've always believed children can sit in the passenger seat from any age - it's only the seat up to 7 that's a requirement. We've been asked twice how old our children sitting in the front without booster seats were. At the time there were 8/9.

If you think it's fussy, it's only been a law for about 5 years and before that you could cram as many children as you wanted into the car - as the kindergarten teacher used to do!

I've always been told by Swiss people that children under seven cannot sit in the front of a car. They may be confused and believe that this is the law, the confusion coming from the fact that putting young children in the front of a car, in their child seats, and with airbags activated is probably not a good idea. I wanted to know whether putting then in the front was actually against the law.

Regarding the child, you _could_ be mistaken. When the car has a 3-point belt for the middle seat, our son (8 in a weeks time) is usually allowed to sit there in his booster seat.

He does not get carsick (as easily), which is good for the drivers concentration, and I do believe it is the safest place in most cars.

But of course, they might actually be standing.

BTW, in Denmark the rules regarding front seat and booster seat is height-dependant, 135 cm AFAIR. Only detail, the police does not have the power to measure children...

/Martin

I know I am dense, but could someone confirm or refute whether our six year old can sit in the passenger seat once she reaches the grand old age of seven (in a booster seat of course)

The way I read the lawtext above you could put your child in the front passenger seat whenever as long as it is using a proper childseat. The other question is if you really want to. Apparantly there have been some bad accidents in the States I believe where the airbag killed the child due to the fact that it isn't dimensioned to children. I think the recommendation is that _if_ you have to place the child in the front, you should move the chair as far back as possible.

And of course you never put your child in the front in a rear-facing childseat without first de-activating the air-bag but I assume everyone knows that.