Seatbelts, child restraints and phone laws in Victoria

By the end of this topic you can

• You can make sure every passenger is correctly restrained.
• You can choose the right child restraint for a child's age.
• You can explain exactly what an L or P driver may and may not do with a phone.
• You can set up navigation and audio legally before a trip.
• You can reduce other distractions inside the car.

What you need to know and understand

• Everyone in the car must wear a seatbelt or suitable restraint, including on short trips.
• The driver is responsible for restraining all passengers under 16; passengers aged 16 or over can be fined themselves.
• Babies under 6 months must use a rear-facing restraint with an inbuilt harness.
• Children under 4 must sit in the back if the car has more than one row of seats.
• L and P drivers must not touch a portable phone at all while driving, even if it is switched off, and must not use voice controls.
• A phone in a commercially made mount may be used only for navigation and audio set up before the trip.
• Illegal device use and touching a portable device carry 4 demerit points.
• You must not have a device on your lap or pass it to or from a passenger.

Wearing a seatbelt properly

A belt should go over your shoulder and across your chest, with the lap part buckled low across your hips. Pregnant women should wear the lap belt across the hips and below the baby. Carrying people in a boot or the back of a ute, or with any part of their body out of a window, is illegal. Not wearing a seatbelt, or carrying an unrestrained passenger, carries 3 demerit points.

Child restraints by age

Children aged 4 to under 7 may sit in the front only if every back seat is already taken by children under 7. Never use a rear-facing restraint in a front seat with a passenger airbag.

• Birth to 6 months: rear-facing restraint with an inbuilt harness.
• 6 months to under 4 years: rear-facing or forward-facing restraint with an inbuilt harness. Keeping them rear-facing until they outgrow the seat is safest.
• 4 to under 7 years: forward-facing restraint with a harness, or a booster seat once they outgrow it.
• 7 to under 16 years: a booster seat or an adult seatbelt. The official advice is to keep using a booster until the child is at least 145 cm tall.

The L and P phone rules in practice

These rules apply to learner, P1 and P2 drivers. Full licence holders have slightly different rules, but no driver may text, scroll, use social media, email or watch videos while driving.

• Do: set up maps and music before you start, with the phone in a commercial mount.
• Do: briefly touch the car's built-in screen to adjust navigation, climate or audio.
• Do: pull over and park before you change a destination or song on your phone.
• Don't: touch a mounted phone for any reason during the drive, even at red lights.
• Don't: use voice commands, look at a passenger's screen or rest a phone on your lap.
• Don't: hand your phone to a passenger to operate for you, or take one from them.

Other distractions

Eating, adjusting controls, chatty passengers and strong emotions all pull your attention away from the road. Put your phone on silent and out of reach, ask passengers to keep it down at tricky moments, and avoid driving when upset. Our guide to Victoria phone rules for L and P platers goes into more detail.

Common mistakes

• Tapping the screen of a mounted phone at traffic lights. L and P drivers must be parked to touch it.
• Saying 'Hey' to a voice assistant while driving. Voice commands are banned for L and P drivers.
• Moving a child out of a booster seat just because of a birthday rather than seatbelt fit.
• Starting the drive before everyone has clicked in.

Test yourself: Seatbelts, child restraints and phone laws in Victoria

Answer each question, then read the explanation. Questions come in a random order each time.

Go deeper

• Victoria Demerit Points for P Plates
• Victoria Phone Rules for L and P Platers Since March 2023
• Driving with Trams in Victoria