Car seat checks offered
Taranaki’s new Kidsafe Taranaki car seat clinics have illustrated the need for safety advice and motorists are being encouraged to make use of them.
Clinics are held monthly in Stratford and mirror those previously provided by Plunket.
New Plymouth Injury Safe manager Alisha Stone says a police check in Taranaki carried out before the campaign began showed that of 186 car seats checked almost half were unsafe. Around 11 per cent were illegal and 38 per cent were legal but the seats required adjustments to be safe. Just over half the seats checked complied.
The Thursday clinics, held in Stratford, Ha¯ wera, New Plymouth, Bell Block and Waitara, are organised to provide free advice on how car seats are installed correctly. Most checksv take five to 15 minutes.
“There is a strong need for these clinics — they can be the difference between a child surviving a crash and not. It’s a simple as that,” Alisha says. “My message to people who have children on board is to find out when the next clinic is in their area and take advantage of it.
“Our surveys show that a significant percentage of children in car seats checked at the clinics are at risk — so it’s important that people find out when the clinics are and come and see us.”
■ Clinics are held on the second Thursday of the month at Stratford’s War Memorial Hall carpark in Miranda St from 10am-1pm.