To think it's weird to allow babies in arms in cabs

And what did you do with the car seat? Lug that around too? They're heavy!

No I just clipped it onto the pram

It's legal, but not ideal. Occasionally you find a taxi-driver who keeps a child seat in the boot, but it's rare, and of course even then it may not be the right size and you don't know its condition. We didn't drive when DD was little, and occasionally used taxis. RoSPA advised us that the safest option was a wheelchair accessible taxi, with the pushchair sideways to the direction of motion. As a toddler, we often used her reins - I'd get in and put the seatbelt on, then she'd sit on my knee and we'd pass the lead of her reins round my back.

It’s legal and I think fine for occasional times. Taxis in central London barely move. (Prob quicker to walk!). Babies aren’t in car seats on buses.

You'd also have to weigh the risk to your younger child against that to your older children of not being able to run after/keep up with them and keep them safe at the zoo/theme park.

@GloomyDarkness
That's making a journey not having a day out.

I'd agree that lugging a carseat on a day out say to a zoo or theme park would be a complete pain in the arse!

Car seats weigh a ton. I completely disbelieve anyone who claims both to have lugged one about all day and to have had a pleasant day out with their children.

Not around all day but if you are going from home taxi then straight on train where you get met either by someone driving or extra hands - it's possible though still a pain.

IL had a friend who always berated me for saying getting to IL was hard by myself - as she did a journey same train time. She drove to station got on train and was met other end - meanwhile I had walk bus train, train change and then really long walk - but the train journey time was the same so she refused to see any difference.

I did get around with three close together in age kids and no car - taxis were rare but occasionally best option.

So is sitting at home never taking your DC out of their neighbourhood because you can't afford a car.

I've never had to take the bus with DC in that situation but it would make me very uneasy.

Re planes - very few people are able to say 'I've been in a plane crash' a car seat is going to make very little difference!

Sometimes it's just not practical to lug a car seat.

Only once have either of my kids been on a motorway without a car seat.
Injured child, in shock, calm in my arms while a neighbour drove us to hospital. Truthfully I was scared to put him in a carseat and drive myself incase he started crying, making the injury worse, causing me stress and potentially causing a more serious accident.

It would be great if there was a solution to this... maybe have a special baby seat on buses and make it possible to order "baby friendly" taxis/cabs with car seats.

Unfortunately banning this will just have two consequences... pushing parents who can afford it to drive/buy a second car and cutting off those who can't afford it from travel options. Already I've been discussing with DH whether we should get a second car... it would be easier to get the kids around, but our area is congested enough and we both object to multi-car households on environmental grounds. We need to be encouraging families to use public transport.

Here the bus goes at 60mph on the motorway to get into the city, surely that's riskier than a 20 mph crawl through central London

It's only legal in a black cab with a dividing screen if you don't have a car seat with you. It's not ideal ever but you can be in situations where you need to use a car with a baby/small child and in emergency it's allowed anyway

Legal yes but legal doesn’t equal safe, half the shitty car seats on the market prove that. I cringe when I see those Disney or Spider-Man seats, they need banning.

Unless it’s a true emergency it’s a really stupid idea. Dismissing real safety concerns as anxiety is fucking stupid though, any sane person who did a second of research into this would be horrified.

I’d say it is a similar risk to catching a bus and holding baby on your lap.

Also, as previously mentioned car seats are heavy, bulky and not easy to be carrying it around all day or while you’re doing the grocery shop etc.

Legal and safe are two different things when it comes to car seats. It’s legal to forward-face a child from 9KG according to one car seat law however it definitely isn’t safe due to the risk of internal decapitation and other life-threatening injuries. So yes in this case it was legal but not necessarily safe. Although I’d argue it was safer to do this than it is to forward face a child once they hit 9KG as like PPs have said they’re not going to be getting up to particularly high speeds.

On the subject of lap babies on planes, they are not safe in the event of a crash, it’s just that plane crashes are extremely rare. The FAA in the US came very close to banning them but concluded that if forced to buy an extra seat more families would choose to drive and because plane travel is so much safer than road travel, a ban would inadvertently cause an increase in infant deaths.

As for the travel system dilemma you can get seats that go flat now. The Cybex Cloud Z is amazing for regular taxi users since it can go flat and be seatbelt installed. That said, for central London taxis, I’m happy to keep mine buckled into the pram as I view it less like a car ride and more like a private bus!

There are many instances when babies travel at high speeds without car seats:

• trains (in arms or in buggy)
• buses as above
• planes (lap belt or in arms)

It's not just cabs and I've personally had babies in arms in all of the above situations including taxis. I'd try to book a black cab but sometimes it was a minicab as that was the only option at the time.

The risk seems very small indeed.

OP it's legal out of necessity. Not because its a favourable option.

If you became stranded somewhere with no public transport, and with a baby in a sling, would you not find it scarier to walk home in darkness alone with a hungry distressed baby?

It's great you've never had to be in such a position but that does make you privileged.

Car seats weigh a ton. I completely disbelieve anyone who claims both to have lugged one about all day and to have had a pleasant day out with their children.

Add a baby in a sling and I'd be bent double hobbling, and I'm fairly fit. Not to mention that this would then leave me unable to run after my older child and make sure he's safe.

When people post these things, I often wonder if they've actually tried them out.

Agreed, US aside (I think, unless the rules have changed) a baby will have it's own seatbelt. - whether they are kept in it or not once the seats belt sign is out is another matter, but then again how many adults stay strapped in once the seatbelt signs are off?

I had to do it a lot when DD was newborn, she'd be in the car seat for the taxi ride and then used the sling when walking around

That worked when we had two adults and one baby - didn't work when we had more kids or were down to one adult, case and baby even using a sling it was a bulky heavy item to lug around as well as everything else.

And what did you do with the car seat? Lug that around too? They're heavy!

I haven’t double checked this but im pretty sure that it is legal for a child under to 3 to ride in a taxi without a seatbelt, it is not legal to do so in a private car. So you can’t give a lift to a parent (unless you are a licensed taxi driver).

Perfectly legal and not just in black cabs or under 30 zones.

If you think about it why would you own a car seat if you don't own a car? Low income families can't afford a travel system and are unlikely to be able to buy a car seat new, you are not allowed to buy or sell second hand car seats.