On 4 November 2009, former NSW Premier Nathan Rees and Minister for Transport David Campbell announced the introduction of new child restraint laws for children up to seven years of age.

Summary of changes

From 1 March 2010:

• Children younger than six months must be secured in a rearward facing restraint.
• Children aged six months to under four years must be secured in either a rear or forward facing restraint.
• Children aged four years to under seven years must be secured in forward facing child restraint or booster seat.
• Children younger than four years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows.
• Children aged four years to under seven years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows, unless all other back seats are occupied by children younger than seven years in a child restraint or booster seat.

A transitional period will apply until 30 June 2010 to allow parents and carers to fully understand and comply with the new laws. 

The transitional period does not provide an exemption for the new requirements regarding seating young children in the front seat.  

Drivers will need to ensure that children younger than four years of age do not travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows.  Drivers will also need to ensure that children aged four years to under seven years of age do not travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows unless all other back seats are occupied by children younger than seven years.  

In the interests of improved child road safety it is recommended parents and carers of young children make every effort to comply with the new requirements as soon as possible.

The Graduated Licensing Scheme for learner drivers has changed.

From 19 December 2009, learner drivers who complete a one hour structured driving lesson with a fully licensed driving instructor can record three hours driving experience in their Learner driver log book.

A maximum of 10 hours of lessons will be accepted and recorded as 30 hours in the Learner driver log book.

In addition, learner drivers who are aged 25 and over will no longer be required to present a Learner driver log book prior to attempting the driving test.

Note: These changes do not mean driving lessons are compulsory or that you should stop having lessons after reaching the 10 hours of training.

Structured lessons

A fully licensed driving instructor must develop each structured lesson in conjunction with the supervising driver and their learner driver using the Driving instructor structured lesson planner.

Driving instructors are required to keep a copy of each lesson plan completed in the Driving instructor structured lesson planner for auditing purposes. This is in order to ensure that learner drivers are receiving high quality structured lessons tailored to the needs of each learner driver.

Each lesson must aim to develop and enhance the learner driver’s practical application of low risk driving principles, as outlined in the Learner driver log book.

The Structured lesson record keeper is a summary of the structured lessons conducted on road by a fully licensed driving instructor.

Structured lesson record keeper inserts are available from RTA Motor Registries, RTA Contact Centres or you can download a copy by accessing the link at the bottom of this page.

This insert must be attached to the Declaration of Completion, on page 111 of the Learner driver log book.

Structured driving lessons are to be recorded on the Structured lesson record keeper in order to be recognised under this new scheme. In addition any lessons recorded in the Learner driver log book prior to 19 December 2009 can be transferred from the log book to the insert.

A Supplementary Declaration is included on the insert and must be signed by a supervising driver for the insert to be recognised under this new scheme.

Lessons conducted at night (between sunset and sunrise) count for only one hour of night driving towards the required 20 hours, with two hours to be added to day driving hours in the log book.

When a learner driver has recorded 10 hours of lessons, on the Structured lesson record keeper, then the driving instructor resumes entering the lesson hours into the Learner driver log book