Hundreds of parents have been fined this year for issues with their childrens car seats and in some cases, they didnt have a car seat at all.
In the nine months to September 2020, a total of 2503 infringement notices were given out by police nationwide for issues with child restraints.
Caregivers face a $150 fine for failing to ensure a child is properly restrained in a vehicle, but that can be waived in some cases if they rectify the situation.
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Plunket injury prevention manager Simone Budel demonstrates how to properly install a car seat.
People can be summonsed to court if tickets issued dont result in a change of behaviour, or if there is risk to a third party or wider risk to the public.
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Released under the Official Information Act, the data showed the month with the most incidents was February, with 404.
Despite Covid-19 and a nationwide lockdown, more than 200 tickets were handed out in the months from March to September.
The Counties Manukau police district had the highest number of tickets issued, with 613 in the nine-month period.
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A rear-facing car seat is recommended until a child is at least 2 years old.
Plunket offers a service in some parts of the country, including Auckland, to show parents how to correctly install car seats.
The charitys data from July 2019 to June 2020 shows 60-70 per cent of car seats inspected had some sort of installation fault or error.
Of that percentage, roughly 10-12 per cent of inspections found children weren't in a car seat at all.
Simone Budel, a Plunket injury prevention manager, said that was extremely concerning.
We do our utmost best to ensure that parents are aware of what legislation is. Some people coming into our country still dont know the rules in our country versus what they are in their own country.
Theres a myriad of factors why people havent got a seat for their child.
Some believe having a safe family car is enough, while others have more pressing issues to deal with and having a car seat isnt high on the priority list, Budel said.
Mary-Jo Tohill/Stuff
Plunket southern region injury prevention programme manager Kathryn Impelmans checks the car seat belt is tight enough. (File photo)
The number of tickets issued by police from January to September appeared on the low side, Budel said something she believed was because of Covid-19 and not many people driving.
Road policing manager Inspector Siaosi Fanamanu said some drivers police come across are unaware their children are not properly restrained and havent had the correct education around its importance.
Our focus has been around educating and encouraging communities to be safe on our roads. Police have worked with our partner agencies to ensure parents and the community take responsibility for the safety of all children on our roads.
There is a downward trend on the number of infringements issued so it appears this message is getting across and people realise the importance of using appropriate restraints.
Our message is that we maintain vigilance to ensure all children are appropriately and safely restrained on our roads.
Fanamanu said with it being the holiday period, it is important to make sure everyone in the car is properly restrained.
Be kind, be patient, and get to your destination safely. Drive to the conditions and keep within the speed limits.
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Thousands of fines handed out over missing or wrongly installed children's car seats - Stuff.co.nz
