Child seat mistakes can be fatal…

Leading online insurance broker, InsureYourMotor.com, is today warning of the severe insurance implications surrounding the topical subject of ill-fitting child car seats. Around two-thirds of child car seats are wrongly fitted, leading to thousands of injuries and deaths in car crashes. Recent statistics reveal that over 100,000 children are involved in crashes where it is crucial to how the car seat was fitted. Out of these 100,000 incidents, 10, 000 children are hurt, 670 seriously injured and 30 killed every year. Fitting a child seat incorrectly not only has implications to the child and passengers involved, but also has implications on car insurance. The current law states that children travelling in a car must use an appropriate child restraint if available. If drivers are convicted of failing to wear a seatbelt, or failing to ensure that a child passenger is secured appropriately, they face fines of up to £1000. However, in addition to these legal penalties this negligence could also affect any claims on drivers’ motor insurance policy. David Harlow, Managing Director of InsureYourMotor.com explains: “This is a serious issue that parents and carers just seem to be overlooking, they are taking unacceptable shortcuts or making compromises with their children as to how the belts are worn just to keep them quiet. I really do not think that they realise what a grave mistake this is and also the implication it may have should the unthinkable happen.” The resurrected issue surrounding child car seats is sure to concern many parents yet again. Car manufacturers and child seat manufacturers are currently trying to remedy the problem by introducing a genuinely universal system, which would make all child car seats capable of being fitted in every model of car across Europe, thus cutting the risk of death and injury from poorly fitted seats.