Children in the car and seat belts: the 7-year and 12-year rules

A child under 7 may be carried in a passenger car or a truck cab whose design provides seat belts (or belts plus an "ISOFIX" child restraint system) only in a child restraint system (device) suited to the child's weight and height (Rules of the Road, point 159). A child aged 7 to 12 may travel either in a restraint or using the seat belts — but in the front seat of a passenger car, only in a restraint (point 159.1). Children under 12 may not be carried on a motorcycle's rear seat, or in a truck's cargo body other than a van body (point 159.3).

The driver must be belted and must not carry unbelted passengers. The same provision permits children under 12 to go unbelted, "except in the cases where belting is compulsory under the legislation" (Law, Article 24, part 5(b)). That permission does not cancel the restraint requirement in points 159 and 159.1 of the Rules — the two texts apply together. Point numbers below refer to the Rules of the Road, Annex 1 to RA Government Decision No. 955-N of June 28, 2007; articles refer to the Law "On Ensuring Road Traffic Safety".

The three ages in one table

Point 159 draws no distinction between the front and rear seat: for a child under 7 the restraint is required in every seat of the car. The separate front-seat condition is written into point 159.1, for children aged 7 to 12, and specifically about a passenger car.

What a "suitable" restraint means officially

The Rules give two criteria, and only two:

• the system (device) must match the child's weight and height (points 159, 159.1);
• it must be installed, and the child placed in it, according to that device's operating instructions (point 159.2).

The Rules name no standard — ECE R44 or R129, say — and the word "booster" does not appear in them either; there is only the general term "child restraint system (device)". So the answer to "which seat should I buy" comes from the manufacturer's instructions, not from the Rules.

One more detail: points 159 and 159.1 are written about vehicles whose design provides seat belts (or belts plus an "ISOFIX" system). Working belts are a requirement in their own right — missing or non-functioning head restraints or seat belts provided by the vehicle's design, and visible tears in the belt webbing, are a condition under which operating the vehicle is prohibited (Annex 2 to the same decision, item 6, sub-item 11). That already belongs to Group 3 · Faults that prohibit operating a vehicle.

Belts: the driver's side and the passenger's side

Article 24, part 5(b) of the Law requires the driver to be belted and not to carry unbelted passengers. The exceptions: children under 12, a driving instructor while the learner is at the wheel, and — inside built-up areas only — the drivers and passengers of operational services and of vehicles with liveried bodywork.

The passenger, for their part, must be belted in a vehicle equipped with belts, and must wear a fastened helmet when traveling on a motorcycle or another motor-transport vehicle (Article 26, part 1(a)). An unbelted adult in the back therefore breaks two rules at once: their own and the driver's.

Motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles

• A child under 12 may not be on a motorcycle's rear seat, or in a truck's cargo body other than a van body (point 159.3). The point says nothing about a sidecar.
• Carrying people outside a motorcycle's design seats, or in a cargo or caravan trailer, is prohibited outright (point 158(1)).
• Riding a motorcycle, and riding a moped or a bicycle on the roadway, the driver must wear a fastened helmet and must not carry passengers whose helmets are not fastened (Article 24, part 5(c)).
• A cyclist or a moped rider may not carry a child under 7 without a seat specially equipped for the child, or outside that seat (Article 24.2, part 11(4)). When a cyclist over 14 carries a child under 7 on an extra seat, in a cycle sidecar or in a cycle trailer, or accompanies a cyclist under 14, that cyclist is allowed to ride on the pavement or a footpath (Article 24.2, part 2(3)(b)).
• When the child is the one riding: under 7, only on pavements, footpaths and cycle-pedestrian paths — keeping to the side meant for pedestrians — and within pedestrian zones; from 7 to 14, only on pavements, footpaths, cycle paths and cycle-pedestrian paths, and within pedestrian zones (Article 24.2, parts 3 and 4).

Organized groups of children

An organized group of children is carried by a bus fitted with the "Transporting children" identification signs (point 155). While children board and get off, that bus must have its hazard lights on, and approaching drivers must reduce speed and, if necessary, stop, to let the children cross the roadway unimpeded (point 156). Such a vehicle is limited to 60 km/h on any road (point 71(1)), and the number of people may not exceed the number of fitted seats (point 152).

A stretch of road running past children's institutions, on whose roadway children may appear, is marked by the warning sign 1.23 "Children". On foot, groups of children may be led only along pavements and footpaths — or, where there are none, along the verge — and only in daylight, accompanied by adults (Article 25, part 5).

How the exam asks it

Questions on these points sit in Group 8 · Speed, towing, carrying people and cargo, and the front seat is where candidates most often slip: without a child restraint it is allowed only from age 12 (point 159.1). The second trap is the van body — a child under 12 may not ride in an open truck body, but a van body is not covered by the ban (point 159.3).

The whole topic is set out with its point numbers in the Group 8 theory chapter, it pairs well with speed limits, and the exam simulation — 3 + 20 questions — is the quickest way to check whether it has stuck. On where marks are usually lost, there is a separate post: the common mistakes in the theory exam.