Car seat clinics – they could save your children’s lives

Road safety experts at Bury Council are inviting parents to attend a series of free child car seat clinics during July.

These events have proven hugely popular in previous years, and enable the team to give potentially life-saving advice to families.

The child car seat clinics will run from 10.30am to 3pm at the following venues:

• Thursday 6 July _ Aldi, Crostons Road, Bury
• Friday 7 July – Aldi Ramsbottom
• Tuesday 11 July - Asda Pilsworth
• Wednesday 12 July Asda Radcliffe
• Friday 14 July - Tesco Prestwich

Officers will give advice on all matters relating to car seats and road safety, and parents can have their child car seats checked for free by an expert from Child Seat Safety Ltd.

Jan Brabin, senior road safety officer, said: “In-car safety is important for all ages but vital for babies and children who are particularly vulnerable due to the dimensions of their body and the lack of relevant support in vehicles. It is essential that parents have the right advice to help them make informed and safe decisions. The car seat checks can also give parents real peace of mind, as well as improve the safety for the child travelling in the car.”

In the last five years, thousands of parents in Bury have been given advice and 542 child car seats have been inspected. Of those, 241 (44%) were found to be fitted incorrectly or were unsuitable for the child or the vehicle. This means that the restraint would not have worked effectively in the event of a crash or the vehicle stopping suddenly. These figures highlight how important it was for those parents to have attended the clinics.

The law states that every child passenger up to a height of 135cm or the age of 12, whichever they reach first, must be in an appropriate child car seat. New legislation came into force this year that will permit new backless booster seats to be used only by children taller than 125cm and weighing more than 22kg. There many stages and types of child car seat available and these are not always compatible with every model of vehicle. In addition, the fitting instructions for car seats can be confusing, which all too often leads to fitting errors.

ENDS

Press release issued: 13 June 2017.

Picture: At a previous child car seat clinic are (from left) Claire Waterhouse (from Child Seat Safety Ltd), Jan Brabin and Edward Booker (Bury Councils road safety team) and Julie Dagnall (Child Seat Safety Ltd).

Note to editors: journalists will be welcome to attend any of the upcoming child car seat clinics.