Does carrying an extra child in a five-seat sedan count as overloading?
2 Answers
Carrying an extra child in a five-seat sedan is considered overloading. Here are the relevant details: 1. The passenger capacity of a vehicle is not determined by the age or weight of the passengers but by the number of individuals. Article 49 of the Road Traffic Safety Law stipulates that motor vehicles must not carry more passengers than the approved number, and passenger vehicles must not carry goods in violation of regulations. A standard five-seat sedan has an approved capacity of five people (including the driver). Exceeding this number by even one person (including infants or children) is considered a 20% overload and will result in a fine of 200 yuan and a deduction of 6 points from the driver's license. 2. Article 76 of the Road Traffic Safety Law outlines the division of liability in traffic accidents. In accidents between motor vehicles, the party at fault bears the responsibility. If both parties are at fault, the liability is divided according to the proportion of their respective faults. In cases of overloading, if the overloaded vehicle is rear-ended by another, the other party bears full responsibility. However, if the overloaded vehicle rear-ends another, it will bear heavier liability due to overloading.
Last time when my family went out with our five-seater car, there were three adults and two kids squeezed in the back seat, and we got pulled over by traffic police—fined 200 yuan and deducted 6 points. Friends all said infants don’t count as overloading, but that’s a complete misunderstanding. Traffic regulations state that the passenger capacity is calculated by the actual number of people, meaning even a newborn in your arms counts as one person. Vehicle engineers have already considered the load limit during design—overloading increases braking distance by over 20%. There was news last year about a family getting into an accident due to overloading, and the airbags didn’t even deploy. Especially for children without car seats, adults can’t hold them securely during emergency braking. Now, we’d rather drive two cars when going out—safety is far more important than convenience.
