The free Child Restraint Checking Day earlier this month, a service provided by Forbes Shire Council, discovered that 86 percent of the child restraints checked were fitted incorrectly.
The service provided free child restraint inspections at Forbes Pre School Kindergarten by local RMS authorised child restraint fitters, Jelbart Dawson and Forbes Auto Electrical Service.
Fifteen child restraints were brought in by parents and grandparents for checking, two child restraints were installed and one was turned around.
Forbes Shire Council’s Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor said the annual Child Restraint Checking Day event continues to be extremely popular.
“This year we were trialling a new format by going to where the children are to offer the free checks. We held a parents/carers session, followed by an open session. It was very successful! There were a large number of bookings but equally as many people who dropped in for the free check or asked about having their child restraints checked whilst dropping off their children.
We will be offering the service at other childcare centres in the coming years.”
“Most of the child restraints that were checked had minor problems that needed fixing to ensure the safety of the child. The most common mistakes were that the seatbelt needed tightening, a gated buckle was needed, the seatbelt was twisted or wasn’t used correctly with the child restraint, the shoulder straps needed adjustment and there wasn’t a large enough gap between the back of the front seat and the child restraint,” said Melanie.
National child restraints laws have been in effect in NSW since 2010. Children are required to be seated in an approved child restraint, appropriate for their size until they are seven years of age.