Children and young people travelling in cars is an everyday occurrence and protecting them from harm during a journey, even a short one, is vital. Yet, you will often see an unrestrained child moving around inside a vehicle, or a young baby being carried on the lap of a front seat passenger while the vehicle is in motion.
It’s easy to think that they’ll be OK as ‘it’s only a short journey’ but CAPT, The Child Accident Prevention Trust has highlighted that in fact, most accidents happen on short journeys close to home.
Alarmingly, twelve children under 10 are killed or injured as passengers in cars every day. For example, trying to hold a small baby in a car crash at 30mph would be like trying to lift 8 bags of cement at the same time. So it’s important to remember that car seats prevent deaths and serious injury.
The CAPT website has a great section on in-car safety which outlines the legal requirements around conveying children and some useful information about car seats.nWhy not take a look to find out more – www.capt.org.uk