Awareness and education campaign on child car restraints hits Whanganui streets

Expired child car seats are a big problem for families, with no standard length of life for seats sold in New Zealand.

Plunket, Horizons Regional Council and police staff were on the streets of Whanganui on Wednesday, August 15, to check all vehicles with child restraints in them.

"We check each car seat to make sure it's the right size for the child and that the tether straps are anchor-bolted," Plunket education and advocacy co-ordinator Veronica Fieldsend said.

"We make sure they are fitted correctly and that the seat hasn't expired. Some seats sold in New Zealand have a life of six years and others are 10 years.

"We tell people to be careful of secondhand seats - they need to know they have not expired. That's the biggest problem for families."

Plunket had some funding available to help buy car seats for families that met the criteria, Fieldsend said.

Horizons roadsafe co-ordinator Glenda Leitao said about half the seats checked were not correctly fitted.

"Often it may be just a slight adjustment is needed," Leitao said.

"Parents take car seats in and out of their vehicles so much that they might not always put it back correctly.

"It's rare these days to find a vehicle carrying children which has no restraints but a lot of people still put their babies in the front seat which they mustn't do because of the airbags."

The child restraint checks are done three or four times a year in Whanganui and are also carried out around the region.