Free child car seat safety check
August 16, 2011 No CommentsFree tests aimed at checking your child’s car seat is safe to use are again being offered by Bridgend County Borough Council’s Trading Standards Service.
The check-ups, which take just 10 minutes, will take place in the car park of Asda Superstore, Coychurch Road in Bridgend on Wednesday, August 24th and are available to anyone who has a child seat in their car.
This is the second event to be arranged by BCBC Trading Standards this summer. At the first event in June the team identified a 60 per cent failure rate for seats checked by expert testers. Of the 57 seats tested, 12 per cent were found to have major faults such as the seats being incorrectly fitted. Nearly half were found with minor faults, such as the adult headrest needing to be removed, which was a vital adjustment nonetheless.
The law says that all children under 135cm (about 4ft 5in) in height and who are under 12 years-old must use an appropriate baby seat, child car seat or booster seat – even on short journeys.
Every year, around 25 children aged 11 and under are killed while travelling in cars, about 250 are seriously injured and around 6,000 slightly injured. The proper use of child car restraints would prevent many of these deaths and injuries. BCBC Trading Standards testers have condemned several seats at previous testing events.
BCBC Deputy Leader, Cllr David Sage said: “I spent some time with the Trading Standards team at the event in June, where I took the opportunity to speak to a few parents. It was encouraging to see so many people taking the opportunity to have their seats checked, and to get some free advice from our experts.
“If you missed the event in June, this latest event is another great, free opportunity for parents, grandparents and carers to get some piece of mind.”
Service Manager for Trading Standards, Helen Picton added: “Many children are injured or killed in car accidents as a result of basic safety errors. From talking with those who have attended this event in the past, the impartial advice our experts can offer is invaluable. We do continue to identify problems with seats that have been fitted by retailers or manufacturers, which I believe makes this event a worthy exercise.
“We will be working in conjunction with BCBC’s Road Safety Team at this event, with our joint aim of ensuring the wellbeing of young children travelling in vehicles, and being on hand to offer support an guidance to those who are keen to learn more about child safety.”
The event takes place at Asda Superstore, Coychurch Road, Bridgend between 9am and 4pm on Wednesday 24 August. In order to fully test the seats, experts prefer the child to be in the car at the time of testing.
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