to think this is dangerous? Or is it quite normal?

[Namechange1013]

3 times over the last month I have seen a neighbour of mine get in to the back of a taxi with her toddler (I would say he is around 18-24 months) and sit him on her lap. No carseat at all. In morning rush hour.

The first time I was quite surprised but then thought maybe she is on her way to an emergency Doctors appt or even hospital.

They do have a car with two carseats for the children, but her husband had obviously taken the car on these days.

AIBU to think this is a bit dangerous? Or is this quite normal if you get taxis with toddlers?

It does seem to be the norm in taxis, but obviously car seats are safer. IME the taxis expect you to have your own car seat.

It's not a legal requirement for taxis. Maybe she's going somewhere where it's not feasible to carry a toddler car seat around at the other end. They're pretty unwieldy.

It's legal to take a child in a taxi without a car seat. So she technically isn't doing anything wrong.

Legally you do not need a car seat in a taxi.

Obviously it is preferable, but is not illegal.

we were told recently by at taxi company that they are not required to put kids in car seats. i've no idea why.

Ah ok Thanks everyone. I just had visions of the taxi driver slamming his brakes on and her head butting her son! Scared me a bit.

Quite a few of the black cabs up our way have slidey things on the straps so you can adjust the height of where it crosses the shoulder. Brilliant idea, means 2yo DD can travel more safely in short taxi rides e.g. train station to home. Far safer than rattling around loose in a bus! In fact we went on a trip recently with her nursery and all the coach seat-belts had these. Wish they were standard in all taxis - as another poster said, car seats are very difficult to carry around at the other end if you take your own.

What did you wally want people to say? Of course it is safer and preferable to have your child strapped in but in cases like this it isn't always easy. What about buses and trains etc?

Does anyone know if you can get the slidey things Jolie described? My DD finds the strap in the car goes across her neck and is uncomfortable. My very short friend says she has this too.

I think one of the Freakonomics books had some analysis of the safety stats for adjustable seatbelts and child car seats, and the seatbelts actually came out as better safety devices. It's a while since I've read it, though, so I could be wrong.

I used a taxi with 18 month old ds last weekend... Short journey we had missed bus home and had 2 hour wait for next one.
Worst journey ever! He wriggled and thrashed about and squirmed all over trying to get down off my lap. Will be trying to avoid using a taxi without his car seat again.

I always thing taxis should carry a booster cushion in the boot. It wouldn't have helped with ds but would be safer for older children in taxis.

begonia it was a genuine question (which is why i asked or is this quite normal if you get taxis with toddlers)

I've never had to get a taxi with my toddler so don't know the rules/recommendations. I suppose it just seemed different because it was in a car where we are all generally strapped in, rather than buses etc where no one wears a belt, if that makes sense.

jolie that sounds a good idea!

dutty my DD would have been exactly the same at that age. She was like that on an aeroplane flight at 14 months, it was a total nightmare. Thank god we were only flying two hours to Spain, and not further!

By law you don't need to use a car seat in a taxi, but it obviously doesn't help if you are in an accident. I've always found that if I book a taxi both ways the driver is quite happy to put my DCs booster seat/ car seat in his boot until he picks us back up. (They've even done it when we were going away for the week)

It was something like this www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B007CM0M34 (sorry for lack of hyperlink, on phone and haven't a clue how to do it). Quick google suggests you may be able to get them in hardware stores too