Sarah

I have often heard it said that it pays to shop around and do your research.

As I was later to discover, this could not be truer when it comes to your child’s car seat.

I have two children currently aged four and one. Before I bought my eldest’s car seat I did extensive research into the different options using information from authoritative sources like Which? and RoSPA. When it came to buying a seat for my youngest,  I went to a reputable high-street retailer and spoke at length to a member of staff about which car seat to buy.

Prior to making the purchase I was sure to check that the seats would fit properly in my car.

It was during short-lived heatwave in August 2020 that the child car seats I bought were put to the ultimate test.
On the day of the accident I had been to see a friend who lives an hour or so away, for a socially-distanced meet-up in her garden. Before setting off on a journey I am always careful to check that the kids are strapped into their seats, and on this occasion it was no different.

I was on the motorway when it happened. Somewhere near Junction 6 of the M42, where it merges with the M6, a lorry knocked into the side of my car. The car rolled over 360 degrees before landing back on its wheels, and we were shunted over by three lanes.

To this day, I am not entirely sure what caused the accident. My best guess is that my car was in the lorry driver’s blind spot while they were changing lanes.

It didn’t take long for the emergency services to attend the scene, and when they did it goes without saying that all three of us were shaken up. I had what I suspect were several broken ribs and minor injuries to my arms. But amazingly, my youngest daughter didn’t have a single injury and my eldest escaped with only the smallest seat belt marks.

Later on, the ambulance crew said it was thanks to their good quality car seats that the youngsters were largely unharmed.

One local paper called the event a “miracle”.  I suppose it was. While I feel incredibly lucky that my children and I survived the collision with relatively little physical trauma, I also know that this was in part because I chose the child car seats well.

If you take one thing away from my story, it is that it always pays to do your research.

You can see RoSPA’s advice about child car seats here.

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