Child seat campaign starts soon

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 578, 21 March 1995, Page 5

Child seat campaign starts soon

As from Saturday next week it will be law to buckle under five year olds in while driving. And Police, Land Transport Safety Authority, ACC, Plunket, the Pacific Island Women' s Health Project, and child restrain manufacturers are working on a campaign to raise usage of car seats. The new child restraint law comes into effect on 1 April 1995. On 1 April 1 994 itbecameanoffenceto transport a child under the age of two in a motor vehicle unless the child is properly restrained in an approved child restraint. That law is extended on Saturday 1 April 1995 to include all children under the age of five. Police have found that restraints are available overall in about 70 per cent of vehicles but actualusage is about 20 per cent less than this figure Usage varies considerably between regions, however, which makes national figures misleading, according to police. Availability and compliance rates vary dramatically on the basis-of, income and ethnicity. Low income Maori and Pacific Island groups have significantly lower rates of usage and availability. Use of child restraints is still not'seen as a sufficiently high priority both by the public and those more directly involved in road safety. It represents an area in which significant gains can be made. In particular child restraints are often not seen as a priority for financially strapped families. Fourteen children under the age of five are killed, on average, each year as passengers in motor vehicles and a further 230 are injured, according to statistics.