Why Get Trained - Child Car Seat Safety

We have seen significant scientific and technological advances in child restraint systems (CRS) and vehicles over the last forty years; yet road traffic collisions remain one of the leading causes of child injury and fatalities.

According to casualty data from the Department for Transport between 2010-2019, over 2,500 children under the age of 12, were killed or seriously injured when travelling in vehicles in Great Britain.

Despite the best efforts of practitioners in this field, including the introduction of better, safer regulations (UN R129), tight focus by Euro NCAP in improving vehicle safety and an ever-increasing investment in retailer training; we are still seeing far too many child casualties.

Our team have checked and made safe more than 40,000 child seats and we still find around two thirds of these seats incorrectly fitted to the child, the car, or both.

The lack of public understanding about how to select and fit suitable seats for individual children and any vehicle they are travelling in remains an ongoing issue as does the lack of effective training for many who sell child seats – as evidenced by our undercover survey commissioned by leading consumer champion, Which?

In this training programme we have aimed to keep it as simple as possible.

Child car seats are specifically designed to provide vital support and protection for infants and children when travelling on our roads. They are one of the most important purchases a parent or carer will ever buy.

Many parents and carers believe that child seats are ‘all the same’ and that as long as they are approved for use and meet the minimum standard, then it comes down to personal choice and price. That is not the case and there are significant differences in both quality and safety.

Our independent Agilysis survey among parents and carers, found that many were not able to make an informed choice because they had not been given all the information they needed at the point of purchase.

In this new training programme, you will have access to all the latest research and information, short films, VR and ongoing support from our Good Egg experts, to help us improve child safety in cars.

We hope you can join us.

Trainee feedback

Thank you so much. I’m so excited by everything you have done, it really is incredible. I’m always delighted by what you achieve.

Pauline Reeves OBE

Deputy Director, Road Safety Division, Department for Transport

I very much appreciate what has clearly been a significant amount of work. Thanks to all trainers and organisers!

Caroline Hay

Road Safety Scotland

I was impressed with the way the Good Egg Safety team approached this important project. They had a thorough and pragmatic vision to establish an effective child seat training programme using a harmonised message with brands and the Baby Products Association, through extensive collaboration with ourselves and key stakeholders.
It was focused on helping retailers offer the right advice for parents and their children.

Luke Burns

Baby Products Association

Hull City Council and myself have been proud to work along the incredible team at Good Egg for many years now.
I am equally proud to have been supporting in the latest training projects which without doubt I feel will contribute greatly to Road Safety across the land. The enormity of the project and the differing needs from the various sectors would at first glance seem unattainable but the sheer professionalism and passion in equal measure from Good Egg have delivered a cutting edge programme that future generations will benefit from.

Allan D. Robins

Road Safety Officer, Hull City Council

Please can you pass on a huge thank you to everyone for the training course over the last couple of days. I found it really helpful and inspiring to arrange a few more clinics.

All the staff from the Good Egg team were just fantastic, from yourself leading the whole course, Margaret and Sandra being experts at being experts, and Doug and Kevin for all the managing and support over the two days.

Gillian Kelly

Project Officer, Fife Council

I used to be a road safety officer and have a lot of experience in child car seat safety. The virtual reality is excellent because you are immersed in the experience of being inside the vehicle and it demonstrates two key elements. Firstly, that there is enough room for children to sit rear facing to an extended age, and secondly it demonstrates the safety aspect. The two sequences that showed a forward facing collision and then a rear facing collision and the difference in the impact on the child, is immense. If that doesn't make a parent or carer put their child rear facing, I don't know what will!

Jane McElroy

Essex Council Road Safety (formerly)

It has long been an ambition of mine that child safety in cars was given more prominence. I have felt for many years that there should be a good intensive training program for selling child safety seats and those that sell them should have proper in depth training for selling a product that could potentially save a child’s life. Enter the Good Egg Training program; a good comprehensive course ensuring that retail staff get the knowledge necessary to give parents the correct advice of the safest option for their child. The program gives a good balance of theoretical and practical training, with good videos.

Cathy Lyons

Store Manager In Car Safety Centre

With a subject matter as important as this is I was delighted to see the expertise and vast array of different specialisations involved in the creation of this course. It is clear from the end result that every area of importance has been taken into account – allowing attendees to leave knowledgeable, skilled and confident but more importantly parents and carers getting the best advice possible when it comes to child car seat safety. Simple, informative, lifesaving!

Louise Joyce

Group Sales Training Manager for Arnold Clark Automobiles Ltd

It’s been a fantastic course - a lot of hands-on and theory and I’ve learnt a lot about child seats. I now feel confident to give advice to motorists and will probably run some safety clinics to make people aware of common errors when fitting child seats. It’s a very well run course and I highly recommend it.

Claire Galloway

Police Scotland Road Policing

The last time I had any formal car seat training was when the R129 regulation was introduced, since then I have only been updating my knowledge through my own research. After participating in the 2 Day Good Egg Child Car Seat Safety Training, my competence and confidence in advising parents on child car seats has hugely increased and it has brought my knowledge back up to date.

Nicola Marr

SCP Supervisor / Road Safety, East Lothian Council

I came here with zero knowledge of child car seats and I can now fit child car seats correctly. The trainers were excellent.

Olufemi Johnson

Senior Traffic Officer, East Dunbarton Council

I first did child car seat training during Covid and didn’t feel comfortable or confident to go back into the community and deliver any sort of safety events. I’ve taken part in the Good Egg Safety car seat training and the knowledge I’ve learnt in comparison to the previous training has been fantastic. I learnt more in the first hour and a half than I did on the previous training. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

Fiona Muir

Road Safety, Renfrewshire Council

The Good Egg Safety two-day advanced course includes common misconceptions, different rules and regulations - and how they’ve changed - and the safe fitting of child seats. It’s an excellent course which was very enjoyable and informative.

Michael Shillington

Road Policing Officer, Police Scotland