Transport

Be sure to do your online research about the various laws pertaining to children traveling in cars, taxis and on public transport. In some countries it is illegal for a child or infant of any age to travel without an approved and professionally-installed car seat and/or restraint (this is the case in Australia) where in other countries like the UK, it is permissible for little ones to sit on their parents lap or even in a forward-facing car seat on the front passenger seat.

You MUST be aware of what is legal and what is not for the country in which you'll be traveling - if you were traveling to Australia from the UK and hadn't brought with you* (or hired) an appropriate child car restraint you could be fined and/or have your drivers licence revoked. The penalties are very expensive, taxi drivers will refuse to take you (and they are legally within their right to do so if it means they are disobeying the law) and you could end up stuck at the airport or by the side of the road for much longer than you anticipated.


The following link is an example of the child restraint laws in New South Wales (Australia). f you are visiting Australia from overseas, you may be very surprised to learn how strict the laws are in comparison to where you're visiting from:


http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/children/childrestraints/childrestraintlaws_faqs.html


The laws for children traveling throughout the UK can be found on this UK Government website (the link to the public transport section can be found at the bottom right of the page):


https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/using-a-child-car-seat-or-booster-seat

If you have any further information that may be useful, particularly with links to the laws in other foreign countries, please feel free to post them in the 'comments' section below for others to read.



* Unless your child car seat or restraint has an Australian Standards approval rating, it is not legal in Australia. Rightly or wrongly, the laws pertaining to child car restraints in Australia are incredibly strict.



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