Car seats shock for city children; DRIVING: Eight out of ten parents fail to fit equipment properly, says survey.Byline: By Neil Elkes ALMOST eight out of ten Birmingham drivers fail to fit child safety seats properly, leaving their youngsters at risk, a shock survey revealed today. The findings, following a series of checks by city council inspectors, suggest that children are not as safe in cars as parents think. Now council bosses are to launch an information campaign targeting parents at primary schools, nurseries, libraries and children's centres in a bid to get them to buckle up safely. Inspectors carried out the safety checks at locations across the city, including Woodgate Valley fire station, Wyndley Leisure Centre, Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield, city (1991 pop. 102,572), Birmingham metropolitan district, central England. The city is a residential suburb of Birmingham with a metal products industry and a large television transmitting station. , Sainsbury's, at Castle Vale Castle Vale is an area of the City of Birmingham, in England, originally created as an overspill housing estate in the 1960s. History Pre-Castle Vale The area was originally known as Berwood, from the Saxon ‘Bearu’ meaning 'the woods'. , Asda, at Small Heath Small Heath can be:
Of 251 seats inspected they found that 191 were fitted incorrectly. Six youngsters had no car seat whatsoever, making an overall failure rate of 78 per cent. Problems included seats not being suitable for the car model, children using a seat not suitable for their age or size, seat belts or restraints being too slack, not set for the child's correct height. One parent was fined by West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second largest in the United Kingdom after London's Metropolitan Police [1]. It covers an area with nearly 2. for carrying two children in a car with no safety seat. Since September last year all children up to 12 years old or under 1.35m (4ft 5in) tall are required by law to use a safety restraint or booster seat when in a car. Birmingham's public protection chief, Coun Neil Eustace, said the findings were "worrying". But he ruled out fining parents for incorrectly fitting seats in favour of an information campaign. He said: "There is a risk of injury to children if they are not fitted properly, and it is encouraging that the vast majority of parents had safety seats. "So we need to give parents the information to do this properly. "But we will take action against those who completely ignore the law and do nothing to protect their children in cars." CAPTION(S): BUCKLING UP... new tips on doing so safely. |
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