RSA’s ‘Check it fits’ visits Louth to ensure child car seats are fitted correctly

With child car seat safety a growing concern nationwide, the Road Safety Authority’s Check it Fits service is coming to Louth on 14th and 15th January to help parents and guardians ensure their children are travelling safely.

Over half of child car seats (54%) checked by the Road Safety Authority’s Check It Fits service were incorrectly fitted and needed some type of adjustment to make them a safe fit. 

The RSA have announced that their face-to-face child car seat checking service – Check it Fits –is on the road visiting locations around the country and is coming to Louth on 14th and 15th January.

WHERE & WHEN

• Smyths Toys, Drogheda, M1 Retail Park, Unit B, Collon Rd, Drogheda, Co. Louth, A92 RD45 Wednesday 14 January 2026 | 10.00am – 5.30pm
• Marshes Shopping Centre, River Ln, Marshes Lower, Dundalk, Co. Louth Thursday 15 January 2026 | 10.00am – 5.30pm

Ron Richardson, Lead checker for the RSA commented:

“While the RSA’s experience with its Check it Fits service shows that half of child car seats are fitted incorrectly, worryingly, it found that 30% of these needed a major adjustment to fix them. For example, the seat being excessively loose so as to make the fitting almost ineffective. 67% were minor adjustments, for example, the fitting being loose or a twisted seatbelt. Having a correctly fitted car seat is a simple measure parents, grandparents and guardians can take to ensure children are safe while travelling by car. I would encourage people to visit the Check it Fits service when it comes to Louth and give yourself the peace of mind that your children are travelling safely.”

The service takes between 10-15 minutes and runs from 10.00am – 5.30pm. It is free of charge and offers parents and guardians reassurance that their child is safe while travelling in the car. It is a walk-in service, no appointment needed.

According to the RSA: “Car seats may seem simple to install, but the installation is often easy to get wrong. The RSA has found that almost a third of seats fitted incorrectly needed major adjustments*. We know parents are not intentionally putting children in danger, and it is an education issue. To help address this problem, the RSA Check it Fits service will be visiting to help parents and ensure car seats and restraints are correctly fitted.

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“It is important to use your child car seat correctly every single time during a car journey, so parents should regularly check the fitting of your child car seat or get it rechecked at a Check it Fits service. If your child’s car seat or restraint is incorrectly fitted, the Check it Fits experts will advise on how to fix the problem, demonstrate how to fit the restraint correctly and answer any queries participants might have to avoid potential serious or fatal injury in the event of a collision.”

For more information on Check it Fits visit www.rsa.ie/checkitfits.