Imperial Road Safety collects 200 car seats for children
Collected car seats that are usable are re-upholstered, safety-checked and cleaned before they are distributed to families that need them.
Imperial Road Safety launched its Car Seats for Kids campaign at the beginning of October as part of National Transport Month in a bid to collect used car seats for families that cannot afford them.
The Car Seats for Kids campaign collects pre-owned car seats from South African citizens for redistribution to those who can’t afford them.
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Collected car seats that are usable are re-upholstered, safety-checked and cleaned before they are distributed to families who need them.
In cases where car seats cannot be re-upholstered and reused, they are recycled.
This year, the brand partnered with the 947 Breakfast Club to bring this campaign to the market once again, following previous successes in these regions.
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The car seats were collected from Johannesburg and Pretoria residents and are being distributed to families who can’t afford car seats or haven’t yet realised the importance of having one.
During the last week of October, Imperial Road Safety has been handing these seats over to 947 listeners who wrote in to explain why they needed a car seat from Imperial.
One of the listeners, Sharmayne Mkhize, who works in Bedfordview, was one of the listeners selected.
Sharmayne said, as a mother of a nine-month-old, she was in desperate need of a car seat as she usually travels with her daughter on her lap as she can’t afford a car seat.
“Three weeks ago I was in an accident and luckily wasn’t with my daughter as it could have been fatal. After the accident, I needed to have money so I can get the car fixed and that meant whatever money I had saved for a car seat had to be used in fixing the car and I was left with no money afterwards,” said Sharmayne.
Sharmayne said when she heard about the campaign, she knew she had to write in so she can get a car seat for her daughter.
“I was happy when I received the call that I was one of the listeners selected to get a car seat because my daughter’s safety is very important to me,” she said.
Sharmayne also received a voucher for all her baby’s vaccinations and health checks from Unjani clinic. She can take her baby to the clinic for her check-ups until she is four years old. The voucher also included nappies and other baby essentials.
The Car Seats for Kids campaign started in 2012 and so far they have managed to collect 8 000 car seats.
During the month of October, they managed to collect 200 seats in a period of two weeks.
This is one of the few initiatives Imperial Road Safety launched to address the issue of safety on South Africa’s roads, particularly amongst children.
“Just because Transport Month has come to an end does not mean we stop collecting. This is an all-year initiative and people can still drop off their car seats at any one of our dealerships. There is also a shop in Randburg where people can drop off the car seats. The shop is called Wheel Well. People can also drop off at Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Renault dealerships,” said Berenice Francis, group commercial executive at Imperial.
Francis said people who have car seats that have become too small for their babies can drop the car seats off at any of the participating dealerships and exchange them for a bigger one.
She also urged parents to read the label before buying a car seat, to ensure that the seat is safe and suitable for the weight of their baby.
“Each car seat has an orange sticker at the back with all the details. Parents must always look for that sticker because it has important information about the safety of the seat. If it does not have a sticker, they must not buy it,” she said.
For more information, visit www.wheelwell.co.za or like Car Seats for Kids on Facebook.
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