Is your child seat fitted correctly?

A startling survey has indicated that a significant percentage of Irish road users may be driving around with incorrectly fitted child seats.

The study, which was carried out by the Road Safety Authority’s ‘Check It Fits’ service, found that 56% of children’s car seats needed some type of adjustment to make them safe.

If a child’s car seat isn’t fitted correctly, the RSA warn, it could lead to a serious or fatal injury in the event of a collision.

“In order to increase awareness of car seat safety and reduce misuse rates, the RSA has launched a new voluntary code of practice for child car seat retailers,” a spokesperson said. “The new code of practice will ensure that best practice is achieved when parents or guardians are buying a child restraint system. This in turn means that when buying a new child car seat, families can be confident that they are getting the best advice and guidance on the most suitable car seat for their child and car.

So car 15 child car seat retailers have signed up to the new Code of Practice, covering 40 stores nationwide. You can look out for the RSA’s Code of Practice stickers in retailer outlets or you can check the list of participating retailers on rsa.ie.

“Worryingly, the ‘Check It Fits’ service found that 30% of child car seats needed a major adjustment to fix them. For example, the seat being excessively loose so as to make the fitting almost ineffective,” Aisling Sloyan, Senior Road Safety Promotion Officer and Child Car Seat Expert with the RSA, said.

“67% were minor adjustments, such as the fitting being loose or a twisted seatbelt. This new code of practice will help the public feel confident that they are getting the correct information they need from retailers when buying a child car seat. This includes help on deciding the correct seat for their child’s weight, height, and age. All child car seat retailers and manufacturers are welcome to participate in this code.”

The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, added: “It is through practical measures like this, where we all work together, and achieve our core target of the new Road Safety Strategy, which is to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50% by 2030.”