Maternal and Child Health Services Conference 2009

1. Maternal and Child Health Services Conference 2009 Helen Lindner Senior Project Manager – Early Childhood Road Safety and Network Access

2. Changes to the Victoria’s Road Rules Existing Road Rules (Child restraints) New Road Safety Rules (Child restraints, mobile phones) The Australian Standard for child restraints VicRoads communications plan Presentation outline

3. Background • Victoria’s road safety regulations are 10 years old and will expire in November 2009 • As our population grows, there are more cars, trucks, trams, buses, motorcycles, cyclists and pedestrians using our roads. • We need to make sure that our road rules are helping all road users get to where they are going as safely and efficiently as possible. • The new Road Safety Rules will help Victoria achieve its road safety target of reducing deaths and serious injuries by a further 30 per cent by 2017.

4. Australian Road Rules (ARR) The ARR are model law agreed by all states/territories to provide consistency in road safety rules. Have been subject to extensive public consultation conducted by the National Transport Commission Ten key changes - to improve safety, mobility, and sharing of the road Many other amendments are minor clarifications to rectify legal anomalies or improve enforcement.

5. Will simplify the rules Will create a new consolidated list of rules Will incorporate the nationally agreed amendments to the Australian Road Rules, to improve road safety It makes the whole system work better for the regulators, enforcers, and courts 300 changes – legislation available at www.legislation.vic.gov.au – statute book, no 94 www.roadrules.vicroads.vic.gov.au Advantages of the new road safety rules

6. Child restraints Seatbelts Parking Drivers Motorcyclists Wheeled recreational devices (scooters, skateboards, roller blades) Line marking Mobile phones and visual display units Cyclists Trams Pedestrians New road safety rules – key changes

7. Existing Child Restraint Rules - Victoria Children under 1 year old Children under 1 year old must be restrained in a restraint that is: • Approved by VicRoads (carries an Australian/New Zealand Standard Sticker AS/NZS1754) • Suitable for the child’s size and weight • Properly fastened and adjusted

8. Existing Child Restraint Rules - Victoria Children over 1 and under 16 years Children over 1 and under 16 years should be restrained in either an approved, properly fitted and adjusted child restraint that is suitable for the child’s size and weight, or a seat belt that is properly adjusted and fastened. There are currently no requirements for where children must be seated in a motor vehicle.

9. Research • On average nearly 300 children under the age of seven are injured or killed in vehicles on Victorian roads each year. • Children aged 2-5 years wearing an adult seatbelt are 3.5 times more likely to suffer a significant injury and 4.2 times more likely to sustain a head injury than those using a suitable child restraint.* • Children aged 4-7 years using booster seats have a 59% reduction in risk of injury compared with adult seatbelts.* • Children under 16 years are at 40% greater risk of injury when travelling in the front seat.* • Children are moving in to adult seatbelts too early – on average at five and half years.*(Bilston, Reeve, Zurynski (2007) Seatbelts and the law: how well do we protect Australian children?)

10. Appropriateness of current usage Bilston et al, Inj Prev 2008

11. Injury implications of inappropriate use Bilston et al, MAA,2005

12. Child restraint misuse rates Bilston et al (submitted)

13. Children in misused restraints are ~5 times more likely to be seriously injured in crashes than those in correctly used restraints (Bilston et al, 2005) Misuse carries a higher injury risk than inappropriate use Injury implications of misuse Lynne Bilston Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute

14. Significant misuse is more common among: Children from non‐English speaking backgrounds Younger children Children using appropriate restraints Child restraints and booster seats are more likely to be misused than seatbelts Factors related to misuse

15. All children under seven years must be properly restrained when travelling in a motor vehicle. The new child restraints rules

17. Currently, children are restrained according to their weight and not age. The new child restraint road safety rules focus on age and not weight. The new rules will allow a child who is too tall or heavy for the recommended restraint to use the restraint in the next age category. Weight versus age

18. Properly fastened and adjusted approved rearward facing child restraint. New child restraint rulesUnder six months old

19. Properly fastened and adjusted approved rearward facing; OR forward facing child restraint with inbuilt harness. Children six months to under four years old

20. Properly fastened and adjusted approved forward facing child restraint with inbuilt harness; OR a properly positioned booster seat and fastened and adjusted seatbelt. Children aged four to under seven years old