Thinking about the recalls yesterday, particularly those related to child seats, reminded me of a recent story I read recently. A 2013 survey of over 10,000 child seats in England, Wales and Scotland revealed that 60% of the child seats were poorly-fitted (see http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/470156/Millions-of-infants-at-risk-60-per-cent-of-all-child-seats-not-fitted-safely). One poorly-fitted child seat is a problem, let alone 6,000 in a sample of 10,000. This statistic is alarming.
Why is this an issue? According to Kevin Clinton, head of Road Safety at the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents in the United Kingdom,
“The importance of properly fitting a child seat cannot be overstated. Make sure it is compatible with the car and remember to seek expert help on fitting. We encourage parents to check that the seat is fitted correctly before every journey, especially if they are regularly taking it in and out of the car.”
He urged the public to “avoid purchasing second-hand car seats as they might not comply with the latest standards, the fitting instructions may be missing and you cannot be sure of their history, such as whether they have been in an accident.”
So why isn’t the message getting through to parents? As a parent myself, I cannot imagine another parent willingly installing a child seat in an unsafe manner, deliberately putting their child in harm’s way. How do stakeholders important in injury prevention get the message across?
Timely action is particularly important when we consider that our most vulnerable could be travelling at 110km/hr, with parents mistakenly believing that their child is as safe as possible. Timely action is also especially important when we realise that this has been an issue for some time (eg., a 2011 story reporting similar statistics: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/sep/17/child-car-seats-motoring).
It will continue to be an issue unless more is done, and sooner rather than later.