Private cars must have safety equipment when carrying children in the car from January 1, 2026.

At the workshop to disseminate new legal regulations on safety equipment for children in cars organized by the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP) on November 6, AIP representatives said that most developed countries have specific regulations on safety equipment for children in cars. To date, nearly 100 countries have enacted laws requiring children to use safety equipment when participating in traffic in private cars.

According to the provisions of the Law on Road Traffic Safety, from January 1, 2026, children under 10 years old and under 1.35 m tall in a car must have safety equipment, otherwise they will be fined up to 1 million VND; at the same time, they are not allowed to sit in the same row as the driver and must use appropriate safety equipment.

Private cars must have safety equipment when carrying children in the car from January 1, 2026.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Le Kim Thanh, Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said that this regulation is becoming more and more positive in the context of the rapid increase in the number of cars in Vietnam (every year there are up to 400,000 - 500,000 newly registered cars, the traffic volume on many main roads increases by over 10% compared to the previous year), many new high-quality roads are put into operation, allowing for higher operating speeds. Therefore, this regulation is a big step forward in protecting children when participating in traffic in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Duong Kim Tuan, Deputy Director of the Center for Policy Research and Injury Prevention (University of Public Health ), child safety devices have been proven to significantly reduce the risk of injury and death for children in traffic collisions. Studies show that the proper use of safety devices can reduce the mortality rate for infants by up to 70% and for young children by 54%.

The report of the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) also shows that child safety devices can significantly reduce the death rate (reduced by 34 - 81%), reduce serious injuries (35 - 72%) and other injuries to children (25-58%) in traffic collisions.

Regarding the difficulties that school buses and buses will face when the regulation on the deployment of safety seats takes effect from January 1, 2026, Mr. Tran Huu Minh, Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said that many countries assess that the group of subjects that must deploy safety devices for children is only private cars, high-speed vehicles, the carrier always knows the need for the trip and has prepared to install seats. Therefore, according to current legal regulations, all types of vehicles that carry children must have safety devices. The National Traffic Safety Committee has recommended that the drafting agency exclude commercial transport vehicles and public transport vehicles, and only apply to private vehicles.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/o-to-ca-nhan-phai-co-thiet-bi-an-toan-khi-cho-tre-em-tren-xe-tu-ngay-112026-20251106145815057.htm