Despite four years of campaigning, the law does exist to protect children under the age of three is woefully inadequate

Dani Zur Mother & Baby magazine

Only 6% of parents surveyed said they were offered proper fitting advice from the shop where they bought the seat.

More than half of all car seats for children are bought second hand and are entirely useless as safety devices, the magazine claims.

The survey has been published as the government prepares to launch an initiative as part of its THINK! Road Safety Campaign.

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) is to produce a safety leaflet about fitting car seats for children next week.

61 deaths

In 1998, the last year for which figures are available, 61 children were killed and 1,151 seriously injured while travelling in cars.

The magazine identified the main problem as "buckle crunching" where the buckle of the driver or front seat passenger seat belt rests on the front of the child car seat.

In severe collisions the buckle can snap putting a child's life at risk.

A collision at only 5mph can kill a young child

Other risks stem from the incorrect routing of the adult seat belt, the insecure fastening of the child seat or the safety belt securing the child seat.

Ms Zur said: "We are also calling for the government to introduce much stricter legislation regarding the safety of all children travelling in cars.

"Despite four years of campaigning, the law that exists to protect children under the age of three is woefully inadequate."

A DETR spokesman said: "Historically, this is a relatively new problem for us.

"We may adopt more of a legislative approach in the future, but at present we feel that our safety campaign will be adequate in addressing the needs of parents.

"Britain now has the best record on road safety in Europe."