A nanny may spend more time driving children around than their parents do.
It's essential that any driving nanny is familiar with the new UKlaw that came into force last month, in line with a European directive on the safety of children in vehicles, specifying the type of seats and restraints that must be used by children in cars.
The National Travel Safe Survey, sponsored by Halfords, Graco and Mother & Baby, found that 40 per cent of parents admit to having allowed babies and young children to travel in cars without a car safety seat, 25 per cent have travelled holding a baby with an adult seat belt around them both, and 11 per cent do not even own a child car seat. The Department of Transport estimates that every year 2,000 children aged under ten could be saved from injury or death in cars if they were properly restrained.
Yet the new law was immediately criticised as 'nanny state' meddling by some media figures. In the Sunday Times, Daisy Waugh said it was 'time we fought back against these health and safety tyrants'. The Tory MP Boris Johnson wrote a whole column in the Daily Telegraph denouncing 'this crack-brained law' and said he resented it 'as an infringement of my liberty to decide how to convey my own children in my own car'. He attacked it again at the Conservative Party conference, saying, 'When I was growing up we all bounced around like peas in a rattle - did it do us any harm?'
However, the road safety charity Brake says the new law does not go far enough. It claims there are 'too many potentially deadly exemptions' - children can travel without restraints where a child seat isn't available in a taxi, or if a journey is 'short and in unexpected circumstances', and seat belts must only be worn 'if available', the law says. 'Brake is concerned that parents may not realise that even when it is legal for children to travel without a child restraint, they are not safe unless properly restrained,' says the charity.
Under the new law, rear-facing baby seats must not be used in front passenger seats where air bags are fitted. Under-threes must travel in properly fitted car seats conforming to the latest safety standard ECE R44.03. Children over three and up to 12 years old, or up to 135cm tall, must sit on booster seats or booster cushions. The number of passengers in the car must not exceed the number of seat belts, and two children must never share a seat belt. The exception of where the journey is an unplanned necessity over a short distance does not include school runs.
Drivers who don't comply with these rules risk a fixed penalty charge of Pounds 30, or a fine of 500 if the case is lost in court.
So what's a nanny to do? Ensure you know how to fit and use car seats and boosters, and model good practice by always wearing a seat belt yourself, no matter how short the journey. Most accidents happen within a mile of home. Always make sure, particularly when swapping child seats around family cars, that they are suitable for the particular vehicle they are being used in.
Shops such as Halfords will show you how to fit child seats and demonstrate the safe use of them, like adjusting straps depending on what the child is wearing. They and the seat manufacturers can advise you on suitability according to the child's age and weight, and to the vehicle, and they will only sell equipment that conforms to the latest safety standard. Be wary of using second-hand car seats - they may have been weakened by being involved in an accident themselves.
Observing these measures will ensure that children in a car do not 'bounce around like peas in a rattle' - and may save a life.
Advice and information
* This year's Road Safety Week, run by Brake, is 6-12 November.
www.brake.org.uk D www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk
* Child Accident Prevention Trust www.capt.org.uk
* Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents www.rospa.org.uk
So what's a nanny to do?
ON THE MOVE
Checklist for nannies
* Do not move your car when unsupervised children are outside it
* Treat car parks as you would a road
* Ensure children in the car are always restrained before moving off
* Use child locks on doors
Checklist to teach children
* Car windows, buttons, levers and foot pedals are not playthings
* Mind your fingers when doors are being shut
* Never take off your seatbelt in a moving car
* Stay back from all moving vehicles