Do you struggle to fit your child’s car seat and then worry that your child isn’t travelling safely? Are you unsure if the child car seat you’re using is the right one for your child? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, many parents have problems with fitting their child’s car seat and up to 3 out of 4 parents get it wrong.

For the past seven years, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has offered a free expert checking service to parents, guardians and grandparents through their ‘Check it Fits’ Roadshow to give them the peace of mind that their child or grandchild is travelling safely in the car. And in a couple of weeks, the RSA ‘Check it Fits’ Roadshow will be on the road again from Wednesday 9 May to Sunday 13 May to provide assistance and practical demonstrations to parents on how to fit their child’s car seats correctly.

Mr Noel Brett, Chief Executive, Road Safety Authority said: “The biggest worry a parent has is that their child might be injured or harmed, so we do everything we can to prevent this from happening. However, as a parent myself, I know how difficult it can be to fit child car seats and I commend all the retailers who offer practical assistance to parents who are unsure if they are doing it correctly. Ensuring a child is properly restrained in an appropriate child car seat can reduce injuries by up to 90-95% for rear facing seats and 60% for forward facing seats in the event of a crash* so it’s vitally important to do it right.”

“Our Roadshow experts have checked more than 5,000 child car seats over the past few years and the problems range from those that can be easily fixed, such as rerouting a seatbelt, to major problems such as using the wrong child car seat for the child. Worryingly, in some cases, the child car seat was condemned which means that not only would it not have protected the child in the event of a crash, it could have caused serious injury or worse. So please avail of this service if you can. It will only take 10 minutes for the experts to check your child’s car seat and give you the peace of mind that your child is travelling safely.”

At each venue, the RSA will have a purpose built marquee where experts will check your child’s car seat, provide a practical demonstration on how to fit it, and answer any queries you might have. As an additional service at some of the venues, Advance Pitstop will check that your car is running smoothly by performing their 5 point check for cars, free of charge.

The ‘Check it Fits’ Roadshow is a free service and will be provided at the following locations:

Wednesday 9 May , Lidl, M1 Retail Park, Co. Louth - 10am to 5pm
Thursday 10 May, Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 - 10am to 5pm
Friday 11 May, Lidl and Heatons, Dublin Road, Wicklow - 10am to 5pm
Saturday 12 May, Tesco, Distillery Road, Wexford - 10am to 5pm
Sunday 13 May, Tesco Extra, Ardkeen, Waterford - 12pm to 6pm

The RSA will be running a Facebook competition in the run up to ‘Check it Fits’ where parents who attend the ‘Check it Fits’ Roadshow will be in with a chance of winning a voucher for a new child car seat or restraint. For further details, visit the RSA’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RSAIreland

Further information on ‘Child Safety in Cars’ is available at www.rsa.ie/childsafetyincars where a ‘Child Safety in Cars’ booklet and DVD are also available FREE to order online or by phone at LoCall 1890 50 60 80

Read RSA's Top Tips for Parents on Child Safety in Cars

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