Raising Children Network: the Australian parenting website
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Staying safe in the car

By Raising Children Network
 
 

More children die in car accidents than any other kind of accident. One of the biggest causes of injuries is car restraints that are not fitted or used properly. Leaving your child in the car - even if you're just ducking into a shop - is so dangerous it's illegal.

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Leaving a child alone in a parked car is illegal because it is extremely dangerous - the temperature can soar to dangerous levels within minutes. Even parents who leave sleeping children for 10 minutes while they duck into a shop have been charged and convicted.

 

Car safety and your child

  • Fitting and using an approved car restraint properly is the most important thing you can do to keep your child safe in a moving car. Never move off in the car until everyone is properly restrained. Find out more in our article on car restraints.
A 2005 report by the Motor Accidents Authority of New South Wales found that 82% of children admitted to hospital after a car crash were not properly restrained at the time of the accident. A 2002 study by the Monash University Accident Research Centre estimated that 70% of child restraints are not fitted or used properly.

Even though child restraints and other safety measures such as airbags and crumple zones have made cars much safer for children, 66 children under the age of 15 died in transport accidents in Australia in 2007.
  • Teach your child about safety in and around cars, and always make sure children are supervised by an adult around roads until at least the age of 10. Read more about pedestrian safety at home and away from home.
  • Sit children in the back, where they are safest. If you must sit a child in the front passenger seat, slide the seat as far back as possible, as this lessens the force of impact with airbags or dashboards. In NSW it is illegal to use a child restraint in the front seat if the car has a passenger airbag.
  • Loose items can fly about in an accident. Keep extra things in the glove box, the boot or behind the cargo barrier in station wagons and four-wheel drives.
  • Praise your child for good car behaviour, such as not wriggling out of seatbelts or harnesses, not distracting the driver and not playing with the locks. Give him things to do in the car - games, books on tape, or other distractions - and he'll be much better behaved.
  • Activate the childproof locks so that your child can't get out when the car is moving.
  • Teach your child not to put his arms, legs or head out of a moving car or a car parked on the side of the road.
  • If your child is allowed to play unsupervised in a parked car he might release the handbrake, burn himself with the cigarette lighter or lock himself in.

Heat and cars

It's true. Cars turn into ovens very quickly, even on cool or overcast days. Leaving your child alone in a car is not only extremely dangerous, it's illegal in every state and territory in Australia. 

On a hot day, the temperature inside a parked car can be as much as 40°C hotter than it is outside. Even on a day in the mid-twenties, the temperature inside a car can soar to dangerous levels within 15 minutes.

Overheated cars can cause children to suffer rapid dehydration, hyperthermia (heatstroke), suffocation and death. In New South Wales alone, more than 150 children were rescued from overheated parked cars in 2002.

  • Winding the window down five centimetres or so has little effect on rising heat.
  • The colour of the seats and interior has no effect on rising heat.
  • Large cars heat up just as fast as small cars.
  • The younger the child, the greater his sensitivity to heatstroke.
  • The younger the child, the faster he will dehydrate.

Travelling tips

The following tips can help to keep children comfortable and safe when you're driving in hot conditions.

  • Give your child plenty of water to drink during car trips.
  • Dress him in cool, comfortable clothing.
  • Don't loosen your child's harness in summer – it must fit snugly whether he is awake or asleep.
  • Stick visors and shades to the windows, or hang a damp towel over the window (but check it doesn't stop the driver from seeing the road from side or rear windows), to protect your baby from the sun. Putting a hood or bonnet over a capsule to protect a baby from the sun reduces air circulation.
  • On long journeys, stop every two hours so everyone can get out of the car and have a stretch. This includes your baby, who can roll around on a rug on the ground.
  • Cool your car as much as possible before you let your child get in.