Jean Simpson
Since the use of child restraints became compulsory in 1994, surveys show most parents use them.
However, a recently published study by Otago's Injury Prevention Research Unit shows a majority of parents make errors in the installation of a child restraint or the way their child is placed in it.
The study, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, interviewed 1113 drivers and made 1484 inspections of vehicles with child restraints in supermarket carparks in the Wellington region.
While 86 per cent of drivers interviewed thought child restraints were easy to use, a quarter of them made a major error that could have had moderate to serious consequences if a crash occurred.
Only 36 per cent of drivers had children properly seated in correctly-fitted restraints.
Critical faults observed included some car seats not attached by safety belts at all, failure to use tether straps, some rear-facing restraints turned to face forward, improperly-fitted attachment systems and children loosely strapped into their seats.
The design of both vehicle interiors and child restraints requires urgent work to ensure safer systems that are more compatible and user-friendly than those currently available, says researcher Jean Simpson.
The challenge for manufacturers and designers is "to make the safe choice the easy choice", she says.
FUNDING
Health Research Council