Five out of six children who travel in cars are not strapped in properly, according to safety organisation Taskforce Kinderveiligheid.

A survey by research agency VeiligheidNL 470 found that in 83% of cases, children under the age of eight were sitting in car seats that were not correctly installed.

‘In 60% of cases the children are not well enough restrained by their seatbelts. Either they are not pulled tight enough or they are twisted,’ VeiligheidNL spokswoman Saskia Kloet told NOS Radio 1 Journaal.

The figures are alarming not least because other research has found that 90% of parents believe their children are safely strapped in during car journeys.

Kloet said 500 children a year end up in emergency departments as a result of being injured while travelling, 75% of them following a road collision.

The researchers also said that parents should advise others who transport their children about how to use safety seats and seatbelts correctly. ‘We have found that the risk is greater of children being transported unsafely if the driver of the car is not their parent, but someone like a grandfather or grandmother.’