Greetings!
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We see a lot of people shopping for a new car to accommodate their growing family. That's why we're dedicating this edition of our E-newsletter to the topic of child restraints. Did you know, for instance, that the laws around child restraints could be about to change?
Before continuing on I really must thank you for your interest in the launch edition of our E-newsletter last month. We gratefully received a fantastic response to it. So here we are again with the second installment and again, there's no sales pitch here. It's just our way of keeping in touch with you, our valuable client, and helping out with some info you'll find useful. Don't forget, if you would like to send me your thoughts on this month's article or ideas for topics to be covered in future editions, hit reply and send me an email.
Warm regards
 Raymond Jones
Principal |
How seat belts have changed
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My family and I arrived in Bunbury in December, 1981 driving a yellow Renault R12.
At the time I only had one son. Adam was probably too little to understand that we had left our home and my little Barber Shop in Guilford, Perth behind for a new life in Bunbury.
But the reality for my wife Franca was too much.
She cried all the way here. I comforted her by saying we'd only stay for a couple of years. That was 27 years ago.
Not long before we moved to Bunbury, Franca with little Adam in the back seat, was involved in a car accident.
Someone ran into her from behind at a Stop sign. How thankful we were the Renault had rear seat belts since the two cars I'd previously owned did not. Adam was unhurt.
We were also very thankful on that day that both Franca and Adam were actually wearing their seatbelts because in those days, it wasn't always the fashionable thing to do.
Having thought about this point and being unable to rely on my fading memories, I decided to do some research. When exactly, did we all have to start wearing seat belts?
Here's what I discovered.
Did you know that wearing a seatbelt was not compulsory throughout Australia until 1972?
Having now sold a lot of Honda CRVs to new parents wanting a reliable family car I dug a bit deeper into my Google search for info on the introduction of child car restraints.
This proved a lot harder but what I found was that child car restraints didn't seem to even come onto the radar until the mid 80s.
Pretty incredible eh?
Unlike me back in the days of my black 1956 FE Holden with no seatbelts, parents nowadays are thankfully, much more safety conscious.
The new mums and dads I know, not only want an approved child car restraint for their baby, they also want to know which models are the safest and easiest to use.
If you're about to buy one, you can find this out by visiting www.childcarrestraints.com.au and downloading a brochure.
And once they've got the car seat, they want to know that it's been fitted properly for optimum safety.
If you'd like to know whether your child's car restraint is fitted correctly, just ask when you visit us next and we'll happily carry out a check for you.
But wait! I've got more.
During the course of my research I also found out about proposed changes to Australian road rules on seat belts for kids under seven.
Thought I'd share the details with you.
Regulations across Australia at the moment, only require children up to age 12 to be restrained in an approved child car restraint when travelling in a motor vehicle.
In January this year the Federal Government approved a bunch of amendments to the rules and now the WA State Government is being asked to make them law here.
The proposed amendments are:
- All children up to the age of seven years be restrained in an approved child car restraint.
- Children up to the age of six months be required to use a rearward facing restraint with inbuilt harness.
- Children from six months to four years to use either a rearward facing restraint with inbuilt harness or forward facing restraint with inbuilt harness.
- Children from four to seven years to use either a forward facing restraint with an inbuilt harness or a booster seat.
It's hoped the amendments will be adopted and implemented in WA early next year. |
We still need your help! |
Just in case you've had some thoughts since we were last in touch - we wanted to remind you that we need your help!
We're thinking of hosting a Ladies Night Out and we want to hear your thoughts, feedback and ideas.
It would be like a seminar but much more fun.
We'd bring in our Service Manager David to chat about the servicing and maintenance of your car, the cars would be on show so you could feel free to have a close look without the fear of being harassed and we'd share some interesting bits of information about your car you might not have known.
And we've had plenty of ideas to fire up the fan factor like serving cocktails or a fashion show. What we really want to know is what would you like to do?
Simply email us your thoughts. We'll keep you posted as the plans come together.
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