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27/02/2004
Poorly fitted child car seats costs dozens of lives a year: report
Around two thirds of all child seats are fitted incorrectly and basic mistakes by adults when fitting child seats can kill and injure hundreds of children a year, even in low speed crashes, a report by the AA Motoring Trust has claimed.
The report found that tests carried out at just 19mph with seats that had been fitted incorrectly produced results which would have seriously injured any child sitting in them.
The tests were carried out by experts from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) at the Britax test facility in Andover, Hampshire, using child dummies sitting in child restraints. The seats were deliberately installed incorrectly to illustrate the consequences of misfitting.
The research simulated various misfitting scenarios all based on real-life accidents where children had been killed or seriously injured.
One test replicated a crash where a boy was killed by massive internal injuries when the car in which he was travelling skidded and hit a tree. He died because he wasn't wearing his seat belt properly. The adult belt was uncomfortable, so his parents routed the diagonal strap behind his back and left the lap belt lying across his tummy. When the car crashed his body jack-knifed causing massive internal injuries.
Every year over 100,000 children are involved in crashes where it is crucial how well the child seat is fitted, the motoring group said. Most children receive little more than a jolt or a shock, but 10,000 are hurt, with 670 seriously injured and 30 killed.
In some cases the child had been completely unrestrained, but in others the child was sitting in a poorly-fitted seat.
Andrew Howard, Head of Road Safety at The AA Motoring Trust, said: "Fitting a child seat incorrectly is a serious issue and one that parents or childminders must not ignore.
"Sometimes parents make mistakes fitting seats, sometimes they take short cuts or make compromises in how they are worn in an effort to keep children quiet. Using a child seat is not always straightforward and parents need to invest time in checking the seat is fitted properly before setting out on every journey."
The report will made be available online at www.AAtrust.com , and 30,000 booklets will also be distributed with the information during this year.
(gmcg)
The report found that tests carried out at just 19mph with seats that had been fitted incorrectly produced results which would have seriously injured any child sitting in them.
The tests were carried out by experts from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) at the Britax test facility in Andover, Hampshire, using child dummies sitting in child restraints. The seats were deliberately installed incorrectly to illustrate the consequences of misfitting.
The research simulated various misfitting scenarios all based on real-life accidents where children had been killed or seriously injured.
One test replicated a crash where a boy was killed by massive internal injuries when the car in which he was travelling skidded and hit a tree. He died because he wasn't wearing his seat belt properly. The adult belt was uncomfortable, so his parents routed the diagonal strap behind his back and left the lap belt lying across his tummy. When the car crashed his body jack-knifed causing massive internal injuries.
Every year over 100,000 children are involved in crashes where it is crucial how well the child seat is fitted, the motoring group said. Most children receive little more than a jolt or a shock, but 10,000 are hurt, with 670 seriously injured and 30 killed.
In some cases the child had been completely unrestrained, but in others the child was sitting in a poorly-fitted seat.
Andrew Howard, Head of Road Safety at The AA Motoring Trust, said: "Fitting a child seat incorrectly is a serious issue and one that parents or childminders must not ignore.
"Sometimes parents make mistakes fitting seats, sometimes they take short cuts or make compromises in how they are worn in an effort to keep children quiet. Using a child seat is not always straightforward and parents need to invest time in checking the seat is fitted properly before setting out on every journey."
The report will made be available online at www.AAtrust.com , and 30,000 booklets will also be distributed with the information during this year.
(gmcg)
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Lack of proper car seats puts children at risk, DfT
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