MP Dawn Fardell asked parents to start to practice the new laws from today.

The new laws, known as Isabelle’s regulations after car crash victim Isabelle Broadhead, were announced by the NSW Government yesterday

Isabelle, 3, died after an accident in April 2006 that occurred while she was using a booster seat and an adult seatbelt in a car travelling just 40km/h.

Since then, her parents, Danielle and Noel Broadhead, have been campaigning for better regulations to keep children safe.

“It is not just babies who require specialised vehicle restraints,” Ms Fardell said.

“The standard lap sash seatbelt is designed for adults and does not properly protect children.

“The positioning of that belt and the current design of car seats can lead to devastating abdominal and spinal injuries.”

The regulations mean children younger than six months must be placed in a rearward-facing restraint.

Those aged six months to four years must be secured in a rear or forward-facing restraint, while children between four and seven must use a forward-facing restraint or a booster seat.

Until now it has only been compulsory for children up to the age of one to travel in baby capsules or seats that contain their own restraints.

Isabelle’s parents have long been researching safe ways for children to travel and hope the new rules will be easy for parents to understand.

“For me the greatest gift is that she lives on longer than she was actually here, that she’s close to us and that she gives back, that she will help keep children safer,” Mrs Broadhead said.

“Sometimes they just don’t know that in an accident it can be catastrophic at such a low speed,” she said.

Ms Fardell said the new laws would hopefully be accompanied by widespread publicity.

The cost of a new restraint with an inbuilt harness for children up to the age of four, or the even cheaper cost of a booster for children from four to seven years, is far less expensive than the cost of a plasma screen or iPod or many of the other gadgets in which families are prepared to invest.”