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

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) have announced that their face-to-face child car seat checking service, Check it Fits is coming to Mayo from January 28-30.

While car seats may seem easy to install, the installation of the seats is often easy to get wrong.

The RSA have found that almost a third of seats fitted incorrectly needed major adjustments. We know parents are not intentionally putting children in danger and it is an education issue.

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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.

Over half of child car seats (56%) checked by the Road Safety Authority’s Check it Fits service were incorrectly fitted and needed some type of adjustment to make them a safe fit. If a child’s car seat isn’t fitted correctly, it could lead to a serious or fatal injury in the event of a collision.

Ron Richardson, Lead Checker for the RSA said: "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% 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."

Richardson continued: "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...give yourself the peace of mind that your children are travelling safely."

The service takes between 10-15 minutes and runs from 10.00am – 5.30pm, it is free of charge and 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 visit www.rsa.ie/checkitfits.