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CHILDREN AND CARS
Millions of British parents could be putting their children's lives in danger - by driving without the correct child restraints.
A shock new study shows one in three British parents haven't a clue about the laws on child car seats.
The survey shows that only a fifth of mums and dads know that their youngsters should travel with an appropriate car seat or booster seat until age 12, unless they are already 135cm tall.
Around 38 per cent of parents have allowed their children of age three to 11 to travel in the car without any type of car seat at all.
And 41 per cent even admit to driving with other people's children in their car without the right restraints.
A spokesman for Gocompare.com, which conducted the poll of 3,000 parents, said: ''These results are absolutely astonishing.
''It is incredible to believe that despite the new laws being in force since September 2006, there is still a lot of confusion, resulting in parents putting their loved ones at risk.
''It only take a couple of minutes to find out what type of travel system is appropriate for the age of the child - as well as there being a wealth of information online, most child-seat retailers will be fully trained to answer queries, and in some cases fit the appropriate child seat correctly, and free of charge.''
The poll showed three quarters of those who forgot to take their children's car seat or booster seat in the car would improvise rather than not travel at all.
Four in 10 people would make their child sit on a cushion, while 17 per cent would ask them to sit on some rolled up clothes.
Fifteen per cent of parents would get their child to sit on someone else's lap, and one in 10 would make them sit on some books.
And if parents were ferrying other people's children round, and didn't have enough child restraints for everyone, 34 per cent would make judgements on whether to travel depending on the length of the journey.
One in 10 wouldn't worry about the lack of car seat or booster seat as long as the child had a seat belt on, and eight per cent would put their friend's children in the car seats, letting their own travel without.
But 12 per cent of folk would be fully prepared to travel with children in the car, without the correct child seats, for as long as 10 minutes.
The GoCompare spokesman added: ''Improvising with cushions, book and clothes is unacceptable, as none of these items provide the correct stability or support for a child under the age of 12.''
The poll also showed more than half of parents frequently have problems with their children not sitting in their car seats properly, and four in five have been distracted by the behaviour of their children in the car when driving.
