Five young kids, no seatbelts

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Tauranga police were shocked when they came across a vanload of young children travelling in car seats that weren't buckled in - on the first day of a child seatbelt campaign.

The van, used by a kohanga reo, was carrying five young children when it was stopped at a Project Kiddiclick checkpoint.

The van was stopped on February 29, the first day of the three-month, child-restraint campaign.

The first morning of the operation also netted a four-wheel-drive vehicle in which a pre-schooler was found standing on the back seat. The parents were forced to park the vehicle and walk their child home, as they had no child restraint.

Legally, children under the age of five must use a child restraint appropriate for their age and size. That includes car seats being secured to the vehicle by a tether strap or bolt that connects the seat to the vehicle.

Although the kohanga reo's car seats were secured that way, they also should have been buckled in by the van's seatbelts threaded through each seat, Plunket child restraint technician Kerri Harnett said.

Ms Harnett said having children unrestrained was simply not good enough. "They should have known, they are carrying other people's children," she said.

"They should be bending over backwards to make sure their vehicle is safe to carry children."

Three young children were in the back and another two were in car seats. The eldest was school-aged.

She would not reveal the name of the kohanga reo involved.

Te Kupenga Hauora is a health body involved in Operation Kiddiclick.

Manager Theresa Wharekura said it could be easy to miss things when other people were involved in loading a vehicle's car seats. "There are a lot of instances where things aren't put in right. There are a lot of things ... to trip up on unless they are doing it all the time."

Tauranga's road safety co-ordinator Lynette Hines said people not restraining their children correctly was one of the biggest issues she faced.

"People think they have the seats in correctly.

"The majority of parents and drivers try hard but about 75 per cent don't get it right," she said.