The fight for child safety continues

Kindergartens in Thames, Coromandel, Tairua, Whitianga, Whangamata, Paeroa, Te Aroha, Matamata, Morrinsville, Ngatea and Waihi have been the focus of Kids N Cars child restraint checks. The checks continue this coming week.

Four trained Safe 2 Go technicians have been working with the police to make sure young babies and children are correctly restrained. "Having a child correctly restrained can decrease the chance of injury by up to 70 per cent in an accident," says Kids N Cars Coordinator Jascinta Temarama.

"We set up a checkpoint; the Police pull the cars over with child restraints in them and we check the child restraints with the parent's permission."

The Kids N Cars child restraint checks are funded by Thames-Coromandel, Hauraki and Matamata-Piako District Councils and will be followed up by Police checks in the very near future. The law states "as the driver you must make sure that any child under the age of five is properly restrained in an approved child restraint." The Police can issue a $150 fine for each unrestrained child or children under five that just have a seat belt and no restraint.

Special attention is given to upper tether straps. These are an added safety feature found on most child seats at the top back of the seat. The tether strap gets attached to an anchor bolt which is usually found on the parcel tray, or in the case of station wagons, the bolt is found behind the seats on the floor and often mistaken for luggage hooks.

Temarama says "usually if drivers can prove they have had an anchor bolt installed within 14 days, their ticket gets wiped." If a car seat does not have a tether strap it is fine without one.

People need to remember not to put infant seats in the front seat of a car with air bags, to put the seat belt back around the seat if they are changing cars and to make sure the car seat has not expired. Temarama says "the most important thing to remember is our children are precious; keep them safe!"

Before you begin, buckle them in.

For more information on Child restraints please contact your local Plunket Car Seat Coordinator, a Safe2Go Technician www.safe2go.co.nz or NZTA www.nzta.govt.nz.