The BPA agrees that there are safety arguments that support travelling backwards in the event of a head-on collision, and this applies to both children and adults alike and in other modes of transport like rail for example.

"We recommend parents to keep their child in rear-facing infant carriers for as long as possible and not to switch to a more convenient forward facing seat at the earliest opportunity. However, most parents globally will eventually make the change because rearward facing child car seats are simply impractical in most situations.  They take up a large amount of room in the car, usually necessitating the front seats to be moved forward, and they don't even fit in some smaller cars".

"Unless the child is given sufficient legroom, he or she will be cramped against the car's seatback.  It can be very difficult for a parent to get a larger child into such a seat and the fitting system is often very complex, increasing the chance of incorrect fitting".

"In addition, although rearward facing is arguably the safest travelling position, most of us prefer not to travel that way.  It reduces the growing child's ability to interact with those in the front seats, to look around and see where they are going. This may result in social and developmental problems.

"The most effective way to improve child safety in car seats is to ensure that the child is correctly fitted into the seat and the seat is correctly fitted into the car. The BPA's research has shown that an incredible 75% of children's car seats are fitted incorrectly, which, whether forward or rear facing, means the child is in danger should a collision occur.

"Buying a car seat from a shop with trained fitting staff is simply the best way to ensure your car seat is right for your car and the parent is trained to fit and re-fit the seat correctly."

www.b-p-a.org

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