A campaign to make it mandatory for babies and toddlers to be placed in rear-facing car seats until they are two years old has received 1300 signatures in its first day.
Plunket recommends that children under two be seated in a rear-facing car seat. Photo: Jérôme Gorin / AltoPress / PhotoAlto
Car seat technician Rachael Hannah said, since 2011, Plunket has recommended that babies should be seated in a rear-facing position until they are two.
Ms Hannah said she started the petition to get the law changed because there was a lot of confusion about when it was safe to put children in a forward-facing position.
"It is quite clear that is it up to five times safer to have a child rear-facing under the age of two," she said.
"There's always going to be opposition. I think people perceive that we are judging them, which is not the case at all.
"We simply want every child to be as safe as possible for as long as possible in the vehicle."
She said the petition was launched on social media through parenting forums and needs 10,000 to be presented to Parliament.
The campaigners want rear-facing car seats - like the one pictured - to be made mandatory in New Zealand. Photo: 123RF