Was I unreasonable to let my mum drive 3 year old 1/2 a mile with no car seat?

[BurningBuntingFlipFlop]

I'm not very well atm and this morning I was altogether rubbish so my mum offered to drop my ds of at nursery as she practically passes our hous on the way to work. She was running a bit late so I just ran out with ds and put him in the front with a seatbelt on. She drove the half a mile around the corner and as she stopped a random father at the nursery started having a massive go at her in front of ds, saying she was endangering his life etc. My mum was mortified, she called ne when she got to work and was nearly in tears.

So was i bu? It's not against the law btw, I checked.

My mum was driving past it on the was to work. and yes i felt too ill to walk 0.3 miles. Although i obviously appear very chipper by my posting style

BBFF, you have misread the table - add the numbers vertically not horizontally!

so of total deaths 52% non built up PLUS
42% built up PLUS 6% motorways = 100

Non Built-up (excludes motorways)
52% of the total killed, 32% of total seriously injured, 25% of total with slight injuries

Built-up
42% of the total killed, 65% of total seriously injured, 70% of total with slight injuries

Motorway
6% of the total killed, 3% of total seriously injured, 5% of total with slight injuries.

I understand you're ill. I mean as far as the car seat law goes - would that really be considered a necessary journey?

Avril, eh? Walking on the pavement would obviously be favourite.

walking is more dangerous??

come off it, thats just an excuse used by people who drive short journeys all the time because they cannot be bothered to walk (who are themselves causing danger to those who DO chose to walk)

where are the stats for the 1000s killed on the WALK to school then??

(yes I know there are freak accidents, but these are miniscule compared to the number of on foot journeys to school every single day)

don't want to get into a silly row but actually there's a road that although quiet it fairly hard to cross on the way (hard to see around the corner if there's a car coming) so probably more likely to get injured there walking.

Avril
Of the just over 2500 killed on the roads (whether motorway or built up areas) in 2008, 687 were pedestrians or cyclists. I don't see how you can say that that would so distort the statistics.

These are all from the Dept. of Transport btw.

Cyclists and pedestrians are unlikely to be killed on the motorway MmeLindt so of course the statistics are distorted.

Of course they are slightly distorted, but not enough to claim that motorway driving is more dangerous than short distances.

Which all has absolutely not relevance to the OP, of course.

I would have swapped over the carseat, and I would never allow my child in the front seat of any car. It doesn't really matter how short the distance unless you can see into the future how can you know you do not need to use the normal safety conditions?

I would just think it's worth the sake of a few seconds to rearrange the car seat into your mum's vehicle rather then take the chance.

As for the father who shouted,maybe he lost someone close due to a car accident, who knows? Least he's making you think about it.

Blimey I live in a country where hardly anyone puts children in car seats (apart from expats like myself, who everyone then thinks are really uptight and precious), from about the age of one. And I am not just talking about people who can't afford it. In fact, most children don't even use a seatbelt half the time.

I am not condoning this and am forever having a go at my friends who do it, but am perhaps a bit more relaxed about these things thanks to lots of exposure to lots of things we in the UK would regard as highly unsafe - and yet, somehow, most people seem to survive!

In other words, I wouldn't lose sleep over this.

Didn't read the whole thread, see now he was in the back seat, still the choice I would have made would have been to swap the car seat over.

YANBU

Everyone is ignoring the fact that zapostophe provided bout adult restraint's effectiveness for the over 3's. Most posters are also acting as if being strapped in with an adult seatbelt is the equivalent of not being strapped in at all.

Yes it was a risk - taking your child in a car restrained or not is a risk - but the size of calculated risk taken by the op does not warrant this mass hysteria.

TBH all he's making me think is how i'll give him a piece of my mind for speaking to my mother like that. Some posters on here have made me feel guilty for not swapping the can seat. BUT i still don't think back of a mini strapped in, for a tall 3 year old for a quiet 0.3 mile journey is that bad. Plus i was breaking no law, so the father can sod off quite frankly.

I am i responsible parent and my if i had believed it was any riskier that taking him as i usual do with him flying off on his scooter while i push a buggy i wouldn't have done it.

OP, I think you should have thought about the possibility of getting into a silly row before you added this post. Or was that the plan because you surely know that this topic would have caused a lot is discussion and disagreement.

As others have said, not ideal but some times you just do what you have to do. If it's a one -off then okay (ish)

Putting your little one into the front seat wasn't the best idea though and also don't be fooled by the fact that it was such a short journey as accidents can still happen.

Of course I am not making them up, FFS. I have taken the total killed on the roads, from the dept of transport.

If you are going by child fatalities alone then according to this 40% of child fatalities were as a result of a car accidents.

But far more children are out and about these days in cars. How many children still walk to school?

zapostrophe - please can you advise where we can read more about the effectiveness of adult restraints for children under 3? I'd be very interested to read more about this. Thanks :)

Sorry but another YABU here. I can't see any reason why you didn't put his car seat in tbh. It certainly wasn't an emergency situation, I know you felt crap but let's face it there are loads of things you have to do when you have kids and you feel crap. You obviously doubt if it was the right thing to do yourself, or you wouldn't have posted at all. I do think the man at nursery was out of order for shouting at your mum but he was obviously concerned for your child. Hope you feel better soon by the way.

Very lazy and why on earth would you risk it?
Don't believe you were too ill to walk.

why in the front???? that was totally unreasonable.

ok in the back for unplanned emergency journeys. buy a cheapo booster seat for your mum to keep in the car for next time, can get for less than £10. and put him in the back.....

Not unreasonable but stupid. How can it not be against the law. It wasn't an emergency.

If it was in the back then I would have done the same, although would buy booster cushion for next time.