Small passengers: until when does child safety seats apply?
If you want to take your offspring or relatives with you for a spin in the car, in most cases you will need a child seat. Without it, the likelihood of your little passenger getting injured increases. You can find out up to what age children have to ride in the special seat in this guide.
Child seat obligation: Minimum age & minimum size
As you can already see from the heading of this paragraph, there is not only a minimum age, but also a minimum height. Children must sit elevated until one of the two conditions is satisfied. This is regulated in the Road Traffic Act (StVO) under paragraph 21 in paragraph 1a:
“Children up to the age of 12 who are less than 150 cm tall may only be carried in motor vehicles on seats for which seat belts are mandatory if child restraint systems are used that meet the requirements and are suitable for the child. “
To omit the child seat, children must at least 12 years old or 1.50 meters tall be. Even then, how the seat belt is positioned is important. If it doesn’t go over the shoulder but is too close to the neck, you should consider a booster seat despite the minimum age you have reached. After all, the StVO is not decisive, the safety of the youngsters should be the priority.
In order to avoid situations in which you could be forced to act, you should at least a simple booster seat in the car carry. For this, however, the child must have reached a minimum height of 1.25 meters and weigh at least 22 kilograms (source: ADAC).
Child seat is missing: who is liable and what are the penalties?
Of course, if you don’t use a child seat, the kid in the back seat isn’t liable. The driver is much more likely to be prosecuted – this is enormously dangerous, even over short distances. The vehicle driver is responsible for the correct securing of children and is therefore also responsible for injuries in the event of an accident. Despite the use of the three-point belt, these can be serious in children, especially in the abdominal area and, depending on the size of the child, also in the neck.
The fines for disregarding the compulsory child seat are not necessarily expensive, but please do not aim for them. the following penalties waiting for you if you don’t use a child seat.
If you have a child without a suitable seat as a passenger in the car, but it is buckled up, you pay in Warning money of 30 euros. If the child is not even buckled up, the sum doubles to 60 euros. On the other hand, if you have several dwarves in the car without a child seat, you pay another 5 euros more. Children should wear at least one harness. If that’s not the case, that’s doubled Fine of 70 euros and you also collect a point in Flensburg. If you have a toddler without a rear-facing child seat in the front seat – without having switched off the airbag, you pay in Warning money of 25 euros.
//www.giga.de/news/harte-ansage-vom-tuev-jedes-fifth-auto-gefaehrdet-Sicherheit-auf-deutschlands-strassen/
