17 April 2007
New research from Sainsbury's bank's car insurance branch has revealed that over 460,000 accidents where children have been in the car occur each year during the school-run period.
Figures show that over five million drivers in the UK go on the school run each school day, with the busiest time being between 08.30GMT and 09.00GMT.
Worryingly, a large number of the children involved in these collisions are thought to be inadequately protected, given that 24% of parents who do the school run were unaware of the legal requirement to provide their child with a booster seat until they are over 4ft 5ins tall.
Steve Johnson, Head of Car Insurance at Sainsbury's bank, commented: "Our research shows that one in four of those driving their children to school has admitted that the children were not always securely fastened in a child car seat or booster.
"The familiarity of the route coupled by the often short distances travelled may make parents feel overly confident and therefore less aware of the dangers involved in the school run.
"As parents, we need to treat every journey in the same manner regardless of the length or familiarity of the journey and take extra care to make sure the seats and boosters are correctly positioned and fastened."
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