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The Road Safety Authority is marking Child Safety Day by encouraging parents and guardians to avail of its Check it Fits service.
The service is touring Ireland during Road Safety Week, which runs from Monday 7 October to Sunday 13 October, providing expert guidance on fitting child car seats. It visited Roscommon, Leitrim and Longford, and will be in Limerick, Dublin, Laois and Westmeath over the coming days and weeks.
Check it Fits is a nationwide, free, expert service which aims to put parents’ and guardians’ minds at ease that their child’s car seat is safely and securely fitted.
It was launched in response to a frightening statistic that shows that over half of child car seats are incorrectly fitted.
Incorrect fitting can result in serious injury or a fatality in the event of a collision and it continues to be a problem.
By 30 September this year, the RSA team had checked 4,535 child car seats at 98 events. Less than half (46%) of the seats were compliant. The remainder were non-compliant, meaning seats were incorrectly fitted and required adjustments. Twenty were condemned, with evidence of them being involved in a crash or not complying with EU regulations.
Sam Waide, Chief Executive of the RSA, said:
“Children are among the most vulnerable people in our society, and no parent or guardian would knowingly put a child’s life in danger. However, an alarming number of parents allow their children to travel in vehicles without being properly restrained, placing their lives and safety at risk. I encourage parents and guardians to avail of our expert service. It could save your child’s life.”
RSA research shows there were 34 children aged 15 and younger killed on Irish roads and a further 592 seriously injured during the five-year period 2019-2023. This age group represented 4% of total fatalities, and 8% of total serious injuries during the period.
In a crash at just 50km/h, a child not wearing a seatbelt or using a child car seat would be thrown forward with a force 30 to 60 times their body weight. They would be thrown about inside the vehicle, injuring themselves and, quite possibly, seriously injuring or even killing other people inside the vehicle.
All children under 150cms in height or 36kgs (79lbs) in weight must use a child restraint system suitable for their height and weight while travelling in a car or goods vehicle, other than a taxi.