Editorial: Parents deserve a name

It makes me shudder to think of a local kohanga reo van packed with carseats attached by only a tether strap. These days carseats must be fitted with both the tether strap anchor, which limits movement in a sudden stop, and the adult seatbelt woven through the frame of the seat, which prevents the seat swinging up or sideways.

That Tauranga children were loaded into these improperly-restrained seats, and had possibly been travelling like this on a regular basis, is unforgivable.

The support services involved have refused to name the kohanga reo involved. While the aim of these checkpoints is to ensure seatbelts are properly fitted, it is essential to name the organisation so parents can have confidence in all the other kohanga following best practice.

The organisation at fault must be publicly named and audited. If staff at the pre-school display this kind of cavalier attitude with the safety of children in their care, agency intervention is obviously required. Where was that van-load of children going that was so pivotal it was worth risking young lives? What could possibly be more important than ensuring kids are safe on our roads?

No one is saying carseats are easy to fit. I read a manual to understand ours but then I was in the privileged position of being able to afford a new seat. Second-hand seats are unlikely to come with manuals but, as was the case with one I was given second-hand for use in my parents' car, you are able to go to Plunket and have someone check it out for free.

The children crammed into untethered seats were witnessed on the first day of a three-month carseat campaign called Operation Kiddiclick. From Monday, police, Plunket and Maori health representatives will step up their efforts with a concentrated week-long campaign. While the motivation is education and correcting seat restraints, adults toting children around in haphazardly-restrained carseats - or no carseat at all - could be fined $150.

Authorities should not be holding back during next week's blitz. Drivers illustrating this kind of worrying attitude to child safety must be stopped, educated, have their seats correctly fitted and, as a deterrent to ever again displaying such a lax view towards child safety, they must be fined.

No party here

As top comedy-folk duo Flight of the Conchords say, New Zealand likes to rock the party.

But while Jemaine Clement and recent Oscar-winner Bret McKenzie have announced a New Zealand tour in June, there won't be any party rocking in Tauranga.

The nine-city tour will visit smaller centres including Hastings, New Plymouth and Nelson, but won't come to the Western Bay. The nearest show will be Hamilton on Thursday, June 14.

What a shambles. Conchords fans have gone ballistic on our website, bayofplentytimes.co.nz, and rightly so. The duo's tour promoters, the duo's bus driver, the duo themselves - they all must reconsider. New Zealand's fifth largest city likes to rock the party. Don't make us beg.