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I'm curious about current seatbelt law in NZ. I'm solely interested in the law and not debates on what is " international best practice" etc
Looking here:
It says:
From 8th birthday to 14 years old Must use safety belts if available. If not available, they must travel in the back seat. Over 14 years old Must use safety belts where they are available.
This seems to suggest that children only need to use safety belts "where they are available" - but what does this mean? As a kid it wasn't unusual to ride in the back tray of a ute with no seatbelt or boot of a station wagon. Does this cover this wording cover these scenarios?
What about vans which I don't think legally have to have seatbelts in every seat? Can people ride without seatbelts in the seats of a van which don't have seatbelts? What about motorhomes? Buses obviously don't legally have to have seatbelts in every seat, but when does a van become a bus?
What about scenarios where I'm giving friends a ride in my car and we end up with four people on the backseat. Can one person forgo wearing a seatbelt because it's "not available"?
The roadcode is slightly less ambiguous with regards to children:
Children aged eight to 14 must wear a safety belt.
Passengers 15 years and over are responsible for making sure that they wear their own safety belts correctly and that they keep them fastened while the vehicle is in motion.
But still doesn't cover scenarios where seatbelts "aren't available" and doesn't say that much about adults other than people over 15 must ensure their own seatbelts are worn correctly.
It also has the following even more confusing statement:
Never put an adult and a child together in the same safety belt.
Which almost seems (by omission) to suggest that 2 adults or 2 children could share the same safety belt in scenarios where there isn't 1 seatbelt for every passenger?
