Two recent in-car safety clinics held in East Dunbartonshire revealed that 70 per cent of the seats checked were incorrectly fitted or incompatible.
As part of the Good Egg In Car Safety Campaign, East Dunbartonshire Council hosted the free clinics in Kirkintilloch and Milngavie to provide support and reassurance to concerned parents, grandparents and carers by providing an accredited car seat fitter who checked their child seats in the car to ensure they were properly installed.
Out of the 60 child car seats inspected, only 18 (30%) were fitted correctly, and eight car seats had major faults. The majority of errors related to the seatbelt securing the child car seat being too loose or following the wrong route, the vehicle headrest impeding the fit, or a slack harness.
Councillor Paul Ferretti, Vice Convener of the Place, Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets Committee for East Dunbartonshire Council, said, “Child car safety is of utmost importance and I’m delighted parents in our area decided to come along to put their minds at ease and find out the latest information regarding child car seat legislation.
“We all want our children to travel safely in cars, however, installing a car seat for younger children and babies can prove to be a challenge. Driving with children in the car without making sure they are properly restrained in a correctly-fitted child seat or seatbelt – even on the shortest of journeys – could have very serious consequences.
“What’s particularly pleasing is that while many of these were found to be unsafe, these faults have now been identified and children are safer on the road as a result. I am pleased we were able to help rectify these faults and give advice.”
Mum of two Ainsley McCrimmond from Milngavie took advantage of the free safety check and said, "It was really helpful to have an expert check over the seats in my car and to get some good information and advice. I'm glad I took the time to make use of the service and I'd recommend other parents and carers to consider doing the same to make sure their car seats are as safe as possible."
Eileen Young from Lenzie used the service to check the car seat of her nine-year-old son, Donald.
She said, “It’s a great service and I’ve used it in previous years. It was good to get advice from the experts and it should be a priority for everyone to make sure their child’s car seat is fitted correctly.”
Due to the popularity of the events traffic officers will be conducting a car seat clinic at Westerton Primary School on Friday 15 September and further clinics will be arranged in the near future. Outwith planned in-car safety clinics, residents of East Dunbartonshire can still request a free car seat check at any point in the year by contacting the Council’s Traffic Officer on 0300 123 451.
For advice on buying a car seat and a comprehensive retailer charter visit the Scottish Good Egg website www.goodeggcarsafety.com.
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