Nova Scotia has released the first set of regulations under its new Traffic Safety Act, which includes Canada’s first age-based minimums for children’s car seats.
The act was passed in the fall of 2025 and takes effect Oct. 19. It will replace the existing Motor Vehicle Act, which was first introduced in the 1920s.
The new regulations include modernizing distracted driving rules to include current technology, creating a framework for inclusive cyclist rules and establishing clearer rules for “emerging vehicle types” like electric scooters.
They also include a requirement that children remain in a rear-facing car seat until at least the age of two and remain in a harnessed car seat until the age of four.
According to Child Safety Link, the children’s injury prevention program at IWK Health, Nova Scotia will become the first province or territory in Canada to enshrine these age-based minimums in law.
Katherine Hutka, a health promotion specialist with Child Safety Link, says she’s thrilled the province has taken the steps to entrench the age minimums in law and that “Nova Scotia is the leader on this.”
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“We need other provinces to take notice, she said.
“We want kids across Canada to be safe too.”
The changes exist alongside the current weight requirements. A child must be 22 lbs in order to use a forward-facing seat and weigh at least 40 lbs to move up to a booster seat.
A study conducted by Dalhousie University in collaboration with Child Safety Link that was released last fall found that eight in 10 car or booster seats for children are improperly used in Nova Scotia.
Among the most common errors were harnesses that were too loose and car seats that weren’t securely attached to the vehicle. As well, people were moving through the phases of seats too quickly.
Child Safety Link says tests have shown that rear-facing car seats better protect a young child’s disproportionately large head and vulnerable neck and spine during frontal crashes.
Aside from the province’s new minimum age laws, Child Safety Link says it continues to recommend that children remain in each stage of car seats for as long as they fit safely within the height and weight limits of the seat.
It points out that many children can actually remain rear-facing beyond age two. It also recommends children continue using a car seat with a five-point harness until they’re developmentally ready to use a booster correctly, which may not be until age five to seven.
“Minimum legal requirements are a starting point, not necessarily the point when a child should move to the next stage,” said Hutka.
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