New campaign to help better protect child passengers on UK roads
A new national campaign has been launched during Child Safety Week (1-7 June 2026) to help better protect child passengers and support the UK Government’s target of reducing child road deaths and serious injuries by 70% by 2035.
Rear Face for Safety is calling for a shift in how child car seat safety is communicated in the UK, encouraging parents to keep children rear-facing until at least four years old – and preferably longer where possible – supported by evidence showing children are up to five times safer travelling rear-facing than forward-facing.
In a frontal collision, rear-facing seats offer enhanced protection for a child’s head, neck and spine by distributing crash forces across the back of the child car seat.
The campaign recognises child passenger safety as a shared responsibility and is calling for proactive, consistent communication throughout the parenting journey so parents understand that rear-facing travel offers greater protection and is recommended beyond the legal minimum.
It aims to ensure parents receive clear, evidence-based information and advice from healthcare professionals, public health teams, retailers, maternity and early years services, and local and central government when choosing a seat for their child.
Rear Face for Safety brings together independent supporters from across road safety, academia, policing, transport, child injury prevention and consumer organisations, alongside leading Swedish child road safety experts.
The campaign is also supported by Swedish insurer Folksam, Chalmers Industriteknik and NTF (National Society for Road Safety) Sweden – organisations that have played an important role in shaping Sweden’s wider progress in road safety and child passenger protection. Their work has helped contribute to Sweden having one of the lowest child road casualty rates in the world.
Earlier this year, the UK Government released a Road Safety Strategy containing ambitious casualty reduction targets – a 65% reduction in road deaths and serious injuries overall, and a 70% reduction in deaths and serious injuries among children aged under 16 by 2035.
Rear-facing travel is one evidence-based opportunity within the wider programme of action needed to help meet these targets and keep children safe.
Despite the UK and Sweden following the same legal requirement for children to travel rear-facing until at least 15 months and 76cm in height, rear-facing travel remains significantly more common in Sweden, where parents are typically told what is safest for their child rather than simply what the law requires.
Recent data suggests only around 22% of UK children aged two to four travel rear-facing compared with 83% in Sweden – highlighting an opportunity to improve how child passenger safety information is communicated in the UK.
Sweden is also home to the Swedish Plus Test – one of the toughest child car seat tests in the world. The test measures the forces placed on a child’s neck in a severe frontal collision and, to date, only rear-facing child seats have been able to pass.
A recent study carried out by Folksam analysing child fatalities aged 0-6 in Sweden between 1992 and 2024 found more than one in three child traffic deaths may have been prevented through rear-facing travel. The report concluded that up to 48% of children aged 0-3 who died in collisions may have survived had they been travelling rear-facing.
Dr Anna Carlsson, Project Manager and Researcher at Chalmers Industriteknik, Sweden, said: “Sweden’s strong safety culture has driven a 92% reduction in fatalities among child passengers aged 0-14 since the mid-1980s, reaching zero fatalities in 2021 – a key milestone. Rear-facing child restraints, developed in Sweden, have played a crucial role in protecting the youngest children.”
