Parents urged to attend car seat clinic

Orkney’s Road Safety Forum is calling for parents to visit a free car seat clinic in Kirkwall next week.

With the aim of combatting common mistakes this clinic is will run from 11am to 4pm, next Wednesday July 26, in the Tesco car park, Kirkwall.

Last year, the Good Egg safety campaign — who conduct clinics across the UK — found that 54 per cent of car seats had been fitted incorrectly.

Problems found in Orkney were mostly minor, with the main mistakes being slack child harnesses, incorrect harness height, and twisted harnesses.

Councillor Andrew Drever, chair of Orkney’s Road Safety Forum, is encouraging everyone who regularly transports children to come along to the car seat clinic for free advice on their own car seat and how to fit it safely.

“Most problems are easily fixed and can make a huge difference to the safety and performance of your child’s car seat in the unfortunate case of an accident,” he explained.

The Good Egg Safety Car Safety clinics run around the UK each year. This year, the campaign has launched a series of nine weekly videos exploring some of the common car seat mis-steps, which can be viewed on the organisation’s Facebook page.

Councillor Drever has urged parents and carers of young children to check back in on the website each week, over the next few months, especially if they are unable to attend the clinic.

The Orkney clinic is will run from 11am to 4pm, on Wednesday 26 July, in the Tesco car park.