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KEEPING YOUR FAMILY SAFE ON THE ROAD

Recent surveys reveal that over 71% of parents in the UK are not aware that legally a child needs to be in a car seat/booster until they are 12 years old, and that SUVs are the choice of car for modern mums looking to keep their family safe…

When it comes to a family car, there are so many options out there that you may well wonder which car to go for. As a modern mum you want to keep your family safe… apparently an SUV is what you need.

Sales of SUVs have quadrupled in Europe since 2005 and are expected to keep rising thanks to growing popularity with an unusually diverse group of buyers, according to a new survey. Once the choice of a select few ski buffs and outdoor enthusiasts, SUVs have been embraced by ‘Modern Mums,’ mothers with young kids, Millennials, 17- to 34-years-olds, and ‘Quintastics,’ for active and youthful 50‑somethings.

Nearly one in three ‘Modern Mums’ are considering an SUV for their next car, as are one in four Millennials; and one in five ‘Quintastics,’ according to a new Ford Motor Company-sponsored survey of 5,000 people in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain who own a car or who intend to buy one in the next 12 months.

“SUVs have grown from a tiny niche in Europe to one of the most significant automotive trends of the past decade,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president, Marketing, Sales & Service, Ford of Europe. “Every time someone predicts SUV sales will cool down, they are proven wrong. That’s because SUVs have widespread appeal with men and woman, young and older people.”

Of those surveyed, 82 per cent say keeping their family safe has become more important. With that in mind, what about UK Car Seat safety?

Family unloading back of vehicle at beach

According to the Automobile Association (AA) in the UK around 5,000 children under the age of 16 die or are seriously injured on Britain’s roads each year.

These are among the key findings identified in a Diono survey*** conducted across 2000 parents throughout the UK with one or more children aged from 4-8.

These statistics demonstrate that although parents want their children to be safe, they are unaware of what to look for in a car seat and often don’t understand what is legally required of them.

Shockingly, over 71% of parents in the UK don’t know that legally a child needs to be in a car seat/booster until they are 12 years old (135cm tall), so many parents break the law and put their children at risk on a regular basis unknowingly.

The survey revealed that when it comes to Car Seats, parents of 4-8 year olds do put security of their children first with the majority saying that side impact protection is the most important aspect when choosing a car seat, however a staggering 70% of UK parents do not know the legal age/height requirements associated with car seat safety.

The Diono survey revealed that UK parents’ priority was safety with 56% saying that side impact protection was the most important aspect of a car seat. This was closely followed by overall comfort and then ease of use and fitting. When it came to what they didn’t like about their car seat the majority said they found it difficult to adjust, this is supported by data from car seat check clinics which show up to 85% of seats are incorrectly fitted/adjusted. This was followed closely by difficult to clean, this figure jumped for the over 50’s who said they found the fact that the car seat was difficult to clean the most annoying aspect of a car seat, with younger parents focusing on ISOFIX and EPS features specifically in all questions.

56% of parents say that side impact protection is the most valuable feature in a car seat, above overall comfort, but not all car seats have side impact protection. Through this survey, the car seat company, Diono, are expressing that although there are lots of car seats on the market, not all have the same safety features.

At Eden, we take your family’s safety requirements seriously. For example, all our nannies can undergo our free Drive A Child Training to refresh their driving test theory prior to placement, in order to highlight the importance of road safety before taking responsibility of your precious cargo.

Our private and corporate chauffeurs are proactive and conscientious, boasting a detailed knowledge of local roads without the use of Sat Nav. They also carry out all maintenance for luxury cars, ensuring vehicles are road safe at all times.

If you would like more information on our private staff, please call us on 020 7471 6000

*JATO Dynamics results are based on information provided by JATO Consult, the company’s bespoke consulting service.  Figures are based on 30 European countries.

** Calculation based on European Commission eurostat data that of estimated EU 28 population of 508,450,856, those aged 17‑ to 34-years-old account for 111,914,312 people, and those aged 50-59 account for 69,974,620 people https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database

*** Source: OnePoll (May 2015 – based on 2,000 respondents)

August 31, 2016

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