London Road Safety Council President, James Cracknell, made an impromptu visit yesterday (22 Mar) to support Hounslow’s road safety team at a car seat clinic in Chiswick.
Allison McGann, road safety advisor, said: “We try to hold a car seat clinic each month, usually in a supermarket car park, to speak to parents and carers about their car seats.
“We check seats, offer advice and refit or adjust seats as required. On average we find that more than 80% of the seats we check are not fitted correctly.
“We invited James Cracknell to attend in the hope it would raise the profile of our car seat clinics and the importance of making sure child seats are correctly fitted.
“We are very grateful to James for his support – it added a touch of excitement to the day.”
The Hounslow figures for incorrectly fitted seats are slightly higher than national figures published recently by Good Egg Safety. The campaign group says it has carried out more than 24,000 car seat checks over the past 15 years. In checks carried out in 2015, Good Egg Safety says 71% of child seats either did not fit the car/s they were used in, or were not suitable for the child using them.
So far in 2016 the Hounslow road safety team has held clinics at the Tesco car parks on Hayes Road (26 Jan) and Feltham (15 Feb) and the Sainsbury’s car park in Chiswick (22 Mar).
For more information contact Allison McGann on 0208 583 2562.