The RSA’s free Check it Fits service is coming back to County Kildare

The Road Safety Authority (RSA)'s free 'Check it Fits' service is coming back to County Kildare.

According to the RSA, over half of child car seats (56 per cent) checked by the organisation's 'Check it Fits' service were incorrectly fitted and needed some type of adjustment to make them a safe fit.

The RSA added: "If a child’s car seat isn’t fitted correctly, it could lead to a serious or fatal injury in the event of a collision."

It is for this reason that the RSA's face-to-face child car seat checking service, 'Check it Fits', is back on the road visiting locations around the country, including three locations in County Kildare.

The RSA explained: "Car seats may seem simple to install, but the installation is often easy to get wrong.

"The RSA has found that almost a third of seats fitted incorrectly needed major adjustments.

"We know parents are not intentionally putting children in danger and it is an education issue."

"To help address this problem, the RSA's 'Check it Fits' service will be visiting to help parents and ensure car seats and restraints are correctly fitted," the group concluded.

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Ron Richardson, Lead Checker with the service for the RSA, also said: "While the RSA’s experience with its 'Check it Fits' service shows that half of child car seats are fitted incorrectly, worryingly, it found that 30 per cent of these needed a major adjustment to fix them.

"For example, the seat being excessively loose so as to make the fitting almost ineffective."

He continued: "67 per cent were minor adjustments, for example, the fitting being loose or a twisted seatbelt.

"Having a correctly fitted car seat is a simple measure parents, grandparents and guardians can take to ensure children are safe while travelling by car.

"I would encourage people to visit the 'Check it Fits' service when it comes to Kildare and give yourself the peace of mind that your children are travelling safely," Mr Richardson concluded.

The service takes between 10 to 15 minutes and runs from 10am to 5.30pm.

It is free of charge and is a walk-in service.

No appointment is needed for the service.

Commenting further on the importance of fitting your child's car seat, the RSA said: "It is important to use your child car seat correctly every single time during a car journey so parents should regularly check the fitting of your child car seat or get it rechecked at a 'Check it Fits' service.

"For example, if you got your child car seat fitted in winter now coming into the summer months you may need to tighten the harness as your children are wearing lighter clothes."

The organisation added: "If your child’s car seat or restraint is incorrectly fitted, the 'Check it Fits' experts will advise on how to fix the problem, demonstrate how to fit the restraint correctly and answer any queries participants might have to avoid potential serious or fatal injury in the event of a collision."

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Photograph supplied by Carr Communications Ltd / the RSA.