Child Slough car seat safety checks for all
Slough Borough Council’s trading standards and Berkshire Fire and Rescue will be doing free child car seat checks at Asda on Wednesday and Thursday, February 20th and 21st.
Keep your child safeThe teams will be in the Slough car park from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 3.30pm to make sure that child seats are fixed to cars properly and safely.
When the same checks were made last August, more than 50 percent failed the inspections.
Most of the faults were due to loosely fitted seats, seats not fitting the car properly, and incorrect seat belt routing, all of which can be easily amended.
One of the more shocking finds was buckle crunch, where any part of the plastic from the surround of the seat can rest on the car’s seatbelt clip.
There are around a quarter of a million road accidents a year in which someone is injured and around 3,500 people die, including about 30 children aged between 0 and 11.
Every year 450 children are seriously injured.
Emma Richards from Slough Borough Council’s trading standards said: “These free checks that we carry out are extremely important and I cannot stress enough that every parent who has a child seat should come along and have it looked at.
“Many seats are fitted wrongly and this can cause serious injuries to a child if involved in an accident or worse, could result in death.
“We all want the best for our children and just because you may have paid a lot of money for a seat thinking it would be better quality, the fitting is just as important.”
Commissioner for Slough public protection, Councillor John Edwards said: “It is very important that parents take this opportunity to have their child seats checked over.
“The checks are free to all and could save many lives. Ensuring that a child’s seat is fitted correctly will improve the safety of our children on the borough’s roads, as well as deliver peace of mind to parents.”
Slough Borough Council