At What Age Can Children Sit in the Front Seat of a Car?

Q.

My son was picked up from school today by a friend, he is 7 years old and 140cms tall, and she was stopped by a traffic warden and advised that he is not allowed in the front seat unless he is over 16 and does require a booster seat.

From reading the info on this site I understand that as long as he exceeds 135cm he does not need a booster seat and cannot see anything documented that states he cannot sit in the front seat of a car. Can you help?

A.

While the laws regarding the transport of children are specific, they can be a bit confusing. Although you didn’t specifically say that your son was wearing a seat belt when your friend was stopped by the traffic warden, I’m assuming that he was. According to current law in the UK, your friend was not acting unlawfully in transporting your son, so the traffic warden was out of line to suggest that she was. If he was unbelted, however, then he would not have been allowed to ride in the front seat and the warden was partially correct.

Here are the specifics as they apply to your son, at age 7 and 140cm. Normally, 7 year olds require booster seats (they are necessary until the age of 12, unless the child is at least 135cm tall), but since your son is tall for his age, the law does not require him to use one. Additionally, there is no law that prevents him from riding in the front seat of a car, just so he is wearing a seat belt, if they are available in the vehicle.

While the law was not broken when your friend transported your son from school, it is important to remember that it is considered far safer for children to ride in the rear seat of a car than up front. Additionally, booster seats, while not required for a child of your son’s height, do provide an additional layer of safety, and the Department for Transport recommends that children should continue using booster seats until they are 150cm tall. So, for everyday transportation, he would ideally be seated in a back seat booster that is appropriate for his weight.

If the situation was to arise again and your son needs to unexpectedly be transported by a friend, he can ride in the front seat if he wears a seat belt. In the event that there are more passengers than seat belts available in your friend’s car, he would need to ride in the back seat, where he can sit, unbelted, only if the need for transport is for “short and occasional journeys made for reasons of unexpected necessity.” This can be the case if, for instance, you (or whoever normally gathers your son) are unable to pick him up because of illness or being unexpectedly detained at work. While this exception exists on the books today, the law will be changing in May 2009 to prevent the transport of more passengers than there are seat belts, but the Department for Transport has not yet released the specifics of the law change.