Seats and belts: the Irish rule and how it is tested

The rules

1. Categories M2 and M3 are the vehicles this rule is about

   The belt rule applies to passenger vehicles with more than 8 seats excluding the driver, whether under 5,000 kilograms (M2) or over it (M3). A car or a van is not in this rule.

   European Communities (Compulsory Use of Safety Belts and Child Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2006, regs 2(1) and 9(1)

2. Adults and children aged 3 or over must wear a fitted belt or restraint

   Where a seat has a safety belt fitted, every adult and every child aged 3 or over in that seat must wear the belt or an appropriate child restraint system while the bus is in motion.

   European Communities (Compulsory Use of Safety Belts and Child Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2006, reg. 9(2)

3. The passenger, not the driver, commits the offence from age 14

   A person other than a person under 14 who fails to comply commits an offence. So a 15 year old who will not belt up is the person liable, and the driver is not.

   European Communities (Compulsory Use of Safety Belts and Child Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2006, reg. 9(3)

4. The driver may refuse to carry a passenger who will not belt up without good cause

   The driver of a large public service vehicle is not obliged to carry a passenger who fails to comply without reasonable just cause. This is a permission, not a duty to remove the passenger.

   European Communities (Compulsory Use of Safety Belts and Child Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2006, reg. 9(4)

5. The owner must see that passengers are informed

   The owner of a vehicle with belts on one or more passenger seats must ensure passengers are informed of the duty to wear the belt while seated and while the bus is moving.

   European Communities (Compulsory Use of Safety Belts and Child Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2006, reg. 10(1) and (2)

6. Five ways count as informing, and no others

   Passengers are deemed informed where they have been alerted by at least one of: an announcement by the driver or conductor; an announcement by the courier, escort, group leader or supervisor accompanying a single group or assembly; an audio-visual presentation; a sign prominently displayed at each belted seating position; or a pictogram in the Schedule 1 form prominently displayed at each such position.

   European Communities (Compulsory Use of Safety Belts and Child Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2006, reg. 10(3)(a) to (e)

7. The exemptions are narrow and listed

   The regulations do not apply to a person wearing a disabled person's belt, the holder of a medical certificate in the prescribed form, a person giving driving instruction, a person conducting a driving test, or a member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces acting in the course of duty.

   European Communities (Compulsory Use of Safety Belts and Child Restraint Systems in Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2006, reg. 11(1)

Where learners go wrong

• Saying the driver must check every belt. The driver's duty is the information duty through the operator, and the passenger's duty is the passenger's.

• Thinking the age of liability is 17, the car passenger age in the older rules, rather than 14 for this bus rule.

• Listing four ways of informing and dropping the group leader announcement, which the regulation lists separately from the driver's announcement.

• Treating a note on a ticket as one of the listed methods. It is not; the five methods are the ones the regulation names.

• Forgetting that a bus with no belts fitted has no belt duty at all.

• Bringing a car child seat rule into a bus answer. The bus rule is about a seat with a belt fitted, and the restraint has to be appropriate to the child.