Road safety charity Brake has warned the new child restraint laws, introduced today, do not go far enough.
It is now illegal for under 12s who are less than 135 centimetres tall to travel without an appropriate child restraint.
Drivers who fail to ensure their child passengers are appropriately restrained will face an on-the-spot fine of £30, or a £500 fine in court. A spokesman for the West Yorkshire-based charity said: "There are too many exemptions in the law."
Exemptions include a child being under eleven and there being no child restraint in a taxi, if the journey is short and in unexpected circumstances, or if there are two occupied child restraints that prevent a third being used.
"The exemptions will allow children to legally travel without full protection," said the spokesman.
"Brake is concerned parents may not realise that even when it is legal for children to travel without a restraint they are not safe unless properly restrained."
The charity also said the age of children should have been extended up to 16 and the height up to 150 centimetres.
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