Safety of kids’ car seats a priority for Rotary and Wheel Well
It is hugely important that unsafe baby seats be withdrawn from the market
MEYERTON. – Everybody is well aware of the legal requirement that all children under the age of 3, travelling in a vehicle,are required to be strapped into an approved car seat.
The reasons for this safety requirement goes without saying but very few people are aware of the details, legal and technical, involved in the use or donation of used car seats.
Wheel Well has a very appropriate slogan: “Don’t just drive legally, drive lovingly”. They are the proud winner of the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award 2016.
Wheel Well runs a project, supported by Rotary, in terms of which they encourage owners of car seats they no longer require, not to donate them blindly to parents in need but to allow Wheel Well to collect, examine and repair the seats in such a way that the seats will be safe for use by the next little one who will be strapped into it.
It is unfortunately so that many people, out of the kindness of their hearts, donate their used car seats to children in need, without realising that the seats may no longer be safe for use. On average two thirds of donated seats are still safe for use.
It is hugely important that such unsafe seats be withdrawn from the market.The four most important reasons for the need to withdraw seats from the market are, namely if the seat has been in a crash, it has been withdrawn from the market for safety reasons, it is simply too old to install safely or it has a homemade cover.
The cover is an integral part of the seat’s safety design and a new cover has to be tested by the seat’s manufacturer.
Wheel Well’s Peggie Mars is available to address clubs or groups on this subject and to collect donated car seats for checking, refurbishing and donating onwards to the needy, making sure that each seat is legally safe for use by the recipient.
Rotary encourages the delivery of used car seats to any Rotary Club, Rotary Anns Club or to the Rotary Humanitarian Centre in Bedfordview, where they will be collected by Wheel Well. Peggie can be reached at 072 385 7121 or peggie@wheelwell.co.za, Shop phone: 073 393 7356
