Boosters to use while Travelling in Australia

[chay]

Hi all,

We're going to be travelling to Australia next year for a month. We will only be travelling by car for a small portion of it and the rest of the time we'll be essentially backpacking around and mostly using public transit.

It appears that the Bubblebum is illegal in Australia from my quick Google search. So -

1. what are my legal options?
2. would I be insane (i.e. from a safety point of view and/or risking $2000 fines...) to consider just doing Bubblebums anyways? Are most Australia cops extremely diligent about this stuff?

Kids will be 6 and 8. I haven't weighed them in forever but the oldest is average height and average to thin and the youngest is tall and average to thin.

 

[Alison's Mom]

Hi there,

We've been to Australia twice. First time kids were 5 and 7, but they are very small for their age. I was worried about legalities, but also due to convenience of not toting them around through the airport, ordered convertibles from an online store there, then sold them to friends of friends after. Last month we went again and the kids were 7 and 9. We brought their turboboosters from home. Many people will pack the back portions in their checked luggage, padded by clothes etc, and then bring the NBB portion onto the plane as the kids' carry on. I wanted the HBB portions since we were doing some long drives there and they would fall asleep with jet lag etc.

Using non Aussie compliant seats is illegal, so I took that risk also. The only legal options are buying or renting Aussie compliant seats, which is expensive or risky with rental seats (unknown history etc). I think at the end of the day, it's a parental decision. From what I read before the first trip, it's very unlikely you'd get stopped and fined. However, if you were in a crash, then they might look more closely at your seats.

Are you travelling to and from the airport by transit? In Sydney, there is a train from the airport to the downtown area, but in Perth, public transport was not as handy.

 

[Adventuredad]

Bring low back boosters. Cheap and can be left there when done. A LBB provide the same protection as a HBB. We have research from real life showing this. Downside will be on longer drives if your kids are sleeping. A LBB is then not as great since kids end up out of position. But you did mention not using the car much so should not be an issue.

Your 8-year old is most likely safer in a LBB compared to a HBB or harnessed seat. Research by Jacobsson show this. This has mostly to do with the unfortunate trend towards larger and heavier seats with larger head supports. This does not improve safe in any way. Side impact protection in any forward facing seat is unfortunately near worthless due to forward momentum and pre-impact breaking.

 

[chay]

Thanks for the replies.

I've read some more and have found out that LBB's have been illegal in Australia since 2010 so that might throw a bit of a wrinkle in my plan. It is one thing to be illegal if they look closely at the labels but I don't want to raise red flags with a simple glance across at a 6 year old riding without a visible back. Then again maybe there are still enough people using unexpired older ones kicking around that it won't. I see blatantly obvious illegal seats here all of the time that cops don't seem to notice so maybe it is similar. I'll have to ask our friends that live there for more info. I figured I'd start here since I'm guessing our friends don't share my car seat obsession.

I'm not worried about them sleeping in the car. The couple of days we're planning on driving will be mid-trip so jet lag shouldn't be an issue by then and we aren't planning long drives. DS has fallen asleep in a LBB and didn't slump at all, not sure about DD but if anyone is going to sleep it is him not her.

I think I'm going to have to go through all of our trip and really plan out all of the transportation to figure out what we want to do.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Unregistered]

Low back boosters have been illegal to sell in Aus but not illegal to use as they are letting the ones already out there use up the lifespan.

 

[Keeks64]

I know the incognito has a pretty high minimum weight BUT it might be an option in this case as it would hopefully blend with the car interior making it less noticeable if you were to get pulled over & would still be easy to carry when back packing.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

 

[MommyShannon]

I know the incognito has a pretty high minimum weight BUT it might be an option in this case as it would hopefully blend with the car interior making it less noticeable if you were to get pulled over & would still be easy to carry when back packing. Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

It won't necessarily provide a good belt fit for smaller kids though.
ETA: I read some about their being illegal. It sounds like it was more to keep little kids out of them. A big proponent lost her daughter in an accident b/c she was in a booster at 3 instead of harness. It's a shame that likely means older kids who don't fit any hbb will be without a booster too early.

 

[chay]

Thanks all, I looked into the Incognito and the weight starts at 60lbs which might work for DS but most likely not DD (I need to weigh them sometime soon to verify).

The parts I read about the legality said that as of 2010 Australia required side impact testing and none of the LBB met this so they are no longer available new.

I did find the Incognito for sale on an Australian site so maybe my illegal LBB comment is incorrect. I also found a Graco Affix LBB and Evenflow Amp on the same site. At least with an Incognito I could buy one in the States and it would look similar enough unless they really got nosy.

Bubblebums just look so compact and backpacking friendly (although since I'm in Canada I've never seen one IRL). DH will not be impressed if I try to get us to cart two HBB or even two of the bigger LBB around for a month - he's put up with a lot of car seat craziness over the past 8 years but I think that would be the final straw

 

[Alison's Mom]

My DH has had to put up with my car seat craziness on many trips also - I know what you mean! This trip it meant bringing much more luggage than we would have if we'd just rented boosters there, but it worked out OK without much complaining. We used hard sided wheeled luggage, so both HBB backs were in one along with clothes, and both NBB bottoms were in one with the armrests taken off so they would fit. I got fragile stickers put on these cases. I know there are risks with lost or damaged luggage, but one of us would just have stayed at the airport with the kids while the other person grabbed new boosters from a nearby store if our bags didn't show up, and with boosters, I'm less concerned about damage than harnessed seats :duck: There's the 'best practice', then there's 'practical' and then there's 'avoiding divorce'. . .

I think if I were you, given NBB aren't illegal to use, I would either bring NBB from home, or bring bubblebums (I don't know much, and have never seen one IRL) if you think they would be easiest while providing a good belt fit.

ETA - just re-read the part about 'backpacking around'. Then you won't want hardsided luggage! And probably not NBBs either! I would then probably bring bubblebums.