The Victorian road rules do not require taxi drivers to provide child car restraints or booster seats for customers. However, the road rules do require taxi drivers to ensure there is at least one anchor fitting ready for passengers who wish to supply their own child car restraint.
The Victorian child car restraint road rules require that in taxis:
- Children aged under 1 year do not have to use a child car restraint, but they must travel in the back seat seated on the lap of a person aged 16 years or over.
- Children aged 1 year and over must be seated in their own seating position in a taxi, with their own properly fastened seatbelt if no suitable child car restraint or booster seat is available in the taxi.
Kidsafe Victoria recommends taking your child’s car restraint with you when travelling in a taxi if possible.
However, rideshare services like Uber are not exempt from complying with the Victorian child car restraint road rules – the same child car restraint road rules apply to rideshare services as private cars.
For example, if your child must be seated rear-facing in your vehicle, they must be seated rear-facing in a rideshare vehicle.