The RSA’s Check it Fits Service is coming back to Mayo

The RSA are delighted to announce that their face-to-face child car seat checking service, ‘Check it Fits’, is coming back to Mayo next week.

The service came to Mayo earlier this year, and is now set to take place again.

The free educational service will take place July 9 at Smyth's Toy Store in Claremorris, July 10 at Totally Toys in Castlebar, and July 11 at Toymaster Ballina, all from 10am-5.39pm.

Car seats may seem simple to install, but the installation is often easy to get wrong. Over half of child car seats are incorrectly fitted nationwide, according to the Road Safety Authority, with almost a third of seats fitted incorrectly needed major adjustments.

To help address this problem, the RSA Check it Fits service will be visiting to help parents and ensure car seats and restraints are correctly fitted.

Ron Richardson, Lead Checker for the RSA commented: “While the RSA’s experience with its Check it Fits service shows that half of child car seats are fitted incorrectly, worryingly, it found that 30 percent of these needed a major adjustment to fix them.

“For example, the seat being excessively loose so as to make the fitting almost ineffective. 67% were minor adjustments, for example, the fitting being loose or a twisted seatbelt. Having a correctly fitted car seat is a simple measure parents, grandparents and guardians can take to ensure children are safe while travelling by car. I would encourage people to visit the Check it Fits service when it comes to Dublin and give yourself the peace of mind that your children are travelling safely,” she added.

_{The flyer for the Mayo services}

The free service takes between 10-15 minutes and runs from 10:00am-5:30pm.

It offers parents and guardians reassurance that their child is safe while travelling in the car. It is a walk-in service, no appointment needed.

It is important to use your child car seat correctly every single time during a car journey, so parents should regularly check the fitting of your child car seat or get it rechecked at a Check it Fits service. For example, if you got your child car seat fitted in winter now coming into the summer months you may need to tighten the harness as your children are wearing lighter clothes. 

If your child’s car seat or restraint is incorrectly fitted, the Check it Fits experts will advise on how to fix the problem, demonstrate how to fit the restraint correctly and answer any queries participants might have to avoid potential serious or fatal injury in the event of a collision.

For more information on Check it Fits, see the RSA website.