Parents are being urged to do a quick 30-second car check before pulling away to ensure their vehicle’s child locks are switched on.
The feature allows drivers to control who can open rear doors from inside the vehicle – and it’s an important one, because kids can be pretty inquisitive and nobody wants the door to their family car being swung open while doing 70mph on the motorway.
Graham Conway, from vehicle leasing company Select Car Leasing, said: “Car child locks are an essential safety feature designed to prevent children from opening vehicle doors while the car is in motion.”
This is important for a few reasons: first and foremost, to protect your child from injuring themselves during transit, as well as to stop them from being able to jump out and run off if your car is static.
While there are no specific laws covering the use of child locks in this country, Conway said it is up to drivers to ensure the safety of all passengers.
“The Road Traffic Act and seatbelt laws impose a duty of care on them, which extends to ensuring that child passengers are securely restrained,” he said.
For modern cars, this lock is usually turned on through a switch on the dashboard or driver’s door controls.
For older models it’s more of a manual task, but only takes a matter of seconds.
Conway explained you need to open the rear doors and look for a switch, “which may look like a white or metal button or knob”.