Checking your child’s car seat could save their life

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With an alarming number of child car seats being incorrectly fitted in 2014, Bournemouth Borough Council is reminding drivers to make sure their in-car child seats are fitted correctly. 

Research has shown that nearly 65% of child car seats are incorrectly fitted or incompatible with the child or car.  Many parents are also not receiving the correct fitting advice from the store they purchased the seat from, putting thousands of lives at risk. 

Councillor Michael Filer, Cabinet Member for Transport said, “It is vital that we raise awareness of this issue in a bid to vastly improve children’s safety in cars.  I would urge drivers to seek helpful advice from experts to make sure their child seats are fitted safely and correctly.”

Child car seats can cause some confusion for users and not every type of seat will fit every car.  Even if the seat is compatible, they can still be fitted incorrectly, or the wrong restraint may be used for the child’s weight. 

Experts advise drivers not to use a second-hand seat, as the history of the seat may be unknown and it could be damaged.

Richard Pearson, Traffic and Road Safety Manager for Bournemouth Borough Council said, “It is extremely important that seats are fitted as stated in the instructions provided, to ensure injuries to children are kept to a minimum.  Our road safety team have been tackling this issue by providing life-saving advice in our free child car seat check days throughout the last year.”

Bournemouth Council will be running another in-car child safety clinic, on Monday 9 March 2015 at the Littledown Centre, Castle Lane between 11am and 4pm.  Drivers will have the opportunity to have their child car seats checked in their own car, free of charge with experts on-hand for any advice.

If you would like further information, you can request the free booklet about in-car safety, by emailing the road safety team [email protected].  This provides you with up-to-date advice in accordance with the Law. 

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