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South Australia

Understanding road laws

Introduction

When children are prescribed special purpose car seats, modified Australian standard car seats, specialty harnesses/vests, and other devices (e.g seatbelt buckle covers) there are specific road rules and vehicle standards that must be complied with in South Australia.

The most common rules for South Australia are summarised below.

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Requirements

There are different rules for transporting children under 7 years, and children 7 to under 16 years, and vehicle standard exemption requirements for the legal use of seatbelt buckle covers.

If a child with disability or medical condition (under 16 years of age) is prescribed a special purpose car seat, modified Australian standard car seat, or specialty harness/vest the following road rules must be complied with.

Seatbelt buckle covers

From 30 March 2024, South Australian families of children with disability no longer need to attend the Department for Infrastructure and Transport’s (DIT) office in Regency Park in person to for a vehicle inspection to use a speciality child restraint that has been prescribed for their child’s needs.

This follows three years of calls from Mobility and Accessibility for Children in Australia Ltd (MACA) to remove this unnecessary barrier for families.

In August 2023, Minister Tom Koutsantonis MP advised MACA that his department would comprehensively review legislation and processes – which resulted in the removal of the exemption requirement.

The Gazette Notice was published on 30 November 2023 and will take effect on 30 March 2024.

However, MACA’s recommendation to include seatbelt buckle covers has not been included in this change. The current requirements are not workable and families still face unnecessary processes to be able to legally use a seatbelt buckle cover for their child – including an onerous online process and a three week wait for a response.

MACA will continue to advocate for change in relation to buckle covers.

DIT recently published a new online application process to apply for an exemption to use a seatbelt buckle cover.

For more information, contact DIT Tel: 1300 882 248, Email: [email protected]

Advice to Parent form

MACA recommends an Advice to Parent form be carried in each vehicle the child travels in. In some states and territories, this is a legal requirement.

The MACA Guide, provided free to participants of our online training course, includes detailed information to assist prescribers in completing the form.

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Disclaimer: The Advice to Parent form is only for use by MACA trained professionals. MACA bears no responsibility for unauthorised use of this form.

FAQs

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