Failure to use child car seats leads to tragedy

By REBECCA WALSH

Denise Konia manages an Auckland early childhood centre and is passionate about the correct use of car seats.

She says that while the majority of parents have got the message, a small number continue to ignore their children's safety, particularly when they are just "popping around the corner".

A handful of drivers arrive at the centre with their children on their laps. Other children will be standing or sitting in the car even though there are child seats in the back.

Mrs Konia says parents need to teach their children that sitting in a child seat is not negotiable.

But it seems the message does not always get through.

She repeatedly asked one parent to put her child in a car restraint. Nothing changed and the woman withdrew her child from the centre.

Soon after, the woman's baby was killed in a car accident. The child was lying in the back seat, unrestrained.

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