Safety sting shocks Plunket

A baby correctly installed in a car seat

A sting on child restraints in the Western Bay has shocked agencies - with faults found in more than half of those checked.

Sandy Waugh, Plunket's Bay of Plenty/Lakes car seat services manager said in one case a one-year-old toddler in a polystyrene booster seat was placed with just a lap belt.

"If there was a crash they would have become a projectile in the car."

Plunket staff and other trained child-restraint technicians assisted police with the blitz at roadside checkpoints last month.

Eleven of the 481 children checked were unrestrained, and 270 restraints had fitting faults, most of which were potentially dangerous to the user in a crash.

Ms Waugh said the results of the checkpoints were "frightening" and flew in the face of national statistics released by Ministry of Transport which showed 93 per cent of children were restrained.

"Clearly our statistics make a mockery of the national figure,"she said. "Especially when we see one-year-old babies in booster seats designed for four-year-olds, babies rear facing in the front seat where air bags can be lethal, and children in booster seats wearing just a lap safety belt."

Other dangerous practices included twisted or loose harness straps, people not using tether straps so the top of the carseat was unsecured and children's arms outside safety harnesses.

Ms Waugh said quite a few of the car seats were out-of-date by one or two years. The New Zealand standard was a maximum of 10 years but the expiry date depended on the maker.

"While there has been a marked improvement in compliance rates from five years ago, it's scary to think so many people are still not getting the message about keeping their child safe," she said.

Children up to the age of seven years were required to use an approved child restraint when travelling in a motor vehicle which also needed to be fitted correctly to be effective.

Head of Western Bay road policing Senior Sergeant Ian Campion agreed.

"There is absolutely no excuse for anyone not complying with the child restraint laws. It defies belief that anyone would put their child into a vehicle which did not have an approved child restraint or when they did have one they didn't fully comply with all the safety instructions."

Mr Campion said most providers had trained child restraint technicians which can advise people which restraint is the best for their child and also help them fit it correctly.

"People need to take responsibility around this issue. It is imperative that parents and caregivers ensure they fully comply with the car restraint laws to ensure their child/children are kept safe,"