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Few people know the seats must be provided, such as

Hilary Osborne found when he joined the team of Kent Road Safety

the safety of children is on the verge of dramatically that Peter Knowles, an officer of the Road Safety Team Bromley Road Safety Council, the catcher. Had an accident, the child sitting in it would be thrown around.

We are in the parking lot of the Orpington branch of Sainsbury, check if car seats are installed correctly. Last week

Observer

revealed that two thirds of child safety seats are not equipped to put children at risk of injury or even death. Data collected by the agents of road safety across the country have shown a litany of problems, seat belt successfully transmitted to the harness that are too high or in bulk.

The problem is solved without necessarily buying a child seat in a store that offers an installation service: the consumer organization Which? found that in a shop of mystery involving 43 institutions, have made mistakes in almost half of the accessories.

A Sainsbury, parents are offered a free car seat check. The mother said that the seat was wobbly given by a neighbor. "She showed me how to adapt," he said as he opened the door of the family living room. "Not very well," said Knowles.

The seat belt is twisted in the background, and was at the point of the thread take, so it will not do their job, then back through the two belt clips Guide security, instead of just one side of the exit. The occupant is 10 months old and small for his age, and this is a forward-facing seat. Even properly installed, do not offer as much protection as a rear-facing seat.

In an accident, looking back is much better that the child is thrown back on the front seat instead of the risk of whiplash. Knowles said that and, like any other child seat is still in his house, his mother agrees to restore it.

Another woman was shopping with her third child. Its head, a Maxi-Cosi Priori XP also has incorrectly. She says she knows how to do it properly, but her husband has used it in their car and do not return properly. Once again the seat belt is twisted and wrong, but this time so badly that later, Peter says that "would have been of no help to an accident." The seat was purchased by John Lewis, but the mail that has never been shown how to adjust properly. As Knowles explains how to tighten the belt tensioner, exclaims that she does not even know she was there.

These parents are not the only potentially dangerous errors:. Most of the excuses that her car door opens and immediately see that the seat is not installed correctly

various reasons, visit the husband advanced, children undo the seat belt, are given, but the problems seem to have the same origin. Parents move to a regular seat between two cars, is in trouble and when they do, and really do not know how they should be equipped. At the end of the day around 60 were tested, 30 have been renovated and six were found to be inconsistent or doomed.

Knowles colleague Val Currie, tells me. "Always keep the child in each seat for as long as possible, since the protection of each offer more than the Next-up" only when the line the eyes of a child is above the top of the seat is what they need to move to the next.

more troubling are the parents who do not accept help. The one we clearly have a child in a rear-facing seat, but related to the child seat is forward facing. Unable to stop, the team of road safety have to leave your car outside, if the seat can not provide any protection.