Parents are clueless over new child seat legislation with only a fraction able to understand the new laws, according to insurance company AXA.
AXA ran a survey quizzing drivers on whether or not they’ve heard of the new i-Size child seat regulations, a new European-wide standard for car seats first introduced back in 2013.
However, only 23 per cent of those questioned said that they’d heard of the new regulations, while 76 per cent said they felt there hadn’t been enough publicity or awareness raised about the issue.
More worrying still, while 86 per cent claimed that they understood child seat laws, only nine per cent of those surveyed were actually able to fully and accurately answer questions on them.
i-Size seats are designed to keep small children facing rearwards for up until they’re 15 months old, based on their height instead of their weight.
After being permitted in Britain after the government amended child seat laws to fall into line with the rest of Europe, the new legislation is still running alongside the existing rules.
This means that parents can still legally use forward-facing seats when their child is more than a year old, but only if their weight is sufficient rather than their height.
According to AXA, the i-Size seats offer much better protection for small children, though it says that the number of parents and drivers completely oblivious to the issue is worrying.
James Barclay, head of product management at AXA, said: “This is an incredibly worrying snapshot of the UK. With so many parents misunderstanding the legislation, and three quarters complaining about the lack of publicity, we felt a duty to help cut through the confusion.”
As a result, AXA has now teamed up with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) in order to help spread the word and boost awareness of the legislation.
Siobhan Freegard, founder of Channel Mum and Netmums, said: “As a mum I know first-hand how confusing it can be for parents, you always want to ensure you’re doing the best by your child but there are so many guidelines available to follow.
“Child car seat safety is incredibly important, so I’ll be doing my best alongside organisations like AXA and RoSPA to help educate the other mums out there.”
For more information on child seats, laws, regulations and which is best for you, check out our handy guide to child car seats!
