44 HEALTH MATTERS saFety tips Make Child Car


Safety a Priority


A message from the Road Safety Authority


aking sure you use a child car restraint may be the most important thing you do for your child. Research shows that 77 per cent of child fatalities in collisions between 1996 and 2000 were due to a lack of or misuse of a child car seat. So no matter how short the journey, every child should be restrained correctly in the car in a child restraint that is suitable for their weight, height and age. Sounds simple enough, but the reality is this is a very serious problem among parents and guardians. In fact, according to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), as many as three out of four parents fit their child’s car seat wrong and it is usually through no fault of their own. Any new parent will tell you that they are overwhelmed with information received from retailers, friends, parents and helpful neighbours about the various pieces of equipment they need for their baby. Advice can be helpful but what happens when you get the wrong advice, or worse, you don’t get any advice? mr Brian Farrell, Communications manager, Road Safety Authority (RSA) says: “Buying a child’s car seat can often be a very confusing experience. The golden rule for selecting your child’s car seat is to make sure that the seat is suitable for their weight, height and age. Don’t use age only as a guide. Every child is different, as is every car seat, so it is vitally important that you only buy your child’s car seat from someone who knows what they are doing


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and can show you exactly how to use and fit the seat properly. “Research has shown that ensuring a child is properly restrained can reduce the possibility of death in a crash by a factor of 71 per cent and can reduce injuries by a factor of 90-95 per cent for rear-facing seats and 60 per cent for forward-facing seats,” he said. To address the problem of incorrectly fitted child car seats, the RSA has taken its child safety in cars campaign, the ‘Check it Fits’ Roadshow around the country over the past five years. Parents are invited to come along to the roadshow and get their car seat checked by an expert. In five years, over 3,000 car seats have been checked by the experts and the results have shown cause for concern. “Often parents underestimate just how important it is to fit their child’s car seat correctly, but research from our annual ‘Check it Fits’ Roadshow shows that over half of all child car seats checked would have provided little or no protection to the child in the event of a crash. This is a huge cause for concern and we would urge every parent and guardian out there to go to your local retailer and make sure that they show you how to ‘check it fits’. do not buy a car seat unless you are shown how to fit it correctly yourself,” Mr Farrell concluded. The research also revealed that almost


four out of ten child car seats required major adjustment with a further one in 20 (five per cent) deemed condemned, which could potentially cause serious injury to the child in the event of a crash.


Speaking on the consequences of not fitting child car seats correctly, Professor Alf Nicholson, Consultant Paediatrician at the Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street, said: “Every year, we see a number of children admitted to our Emergency Department at the Children’s University Hospital with injuries received as a result of not being properly restrained in the car. These injuries can present themselves in many ways, including injuries to the face leaving permanent scars, broken bones and severe head injuries. “I would ask any parent or guardian with children who should be using a child restraint to make sure their child restraint is fitted correctly and not run the risk of having to bring their child to our Emergency Department,” he concluded. The Road Safety Authority has a dedicated Child Safety in Cars website (www.rsa.ie/childsafetyincars) where you can read the ‘Child Safety in Cars’ booklet and watch the ‘Child Safety in Cars’ dvd. Both the booklet and dvd are FREE and available to order online at www.rsa.ie/ childsafetyincars or by telephone at LoCall 1890 50 60 80.


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