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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why babies can travel in taxis carseat free?

89 replies

FroggyPop · 19/09/2013 00:21

Just that really - there is so much legislation on carseats. I know I paid a lot extra to get a carseat that could keep my DD rear facing for a lot longer as research told me that was safer.

So im just wondering how a baby of any age can sit on a knee in the back of the car and be deemed as safe - I know people did this all the time years ago but surely recent research has disproved this?

OP posts:

AnneUulmelmahay · 19/09/2013 00:25

I am sure that pragmatism informed the decision to exclude taxis

Famzilla · 19/09/2013 00:30

Can they really?

I just wouldn't though. DD is 6mo and we're getting a taxi to my wedding in a couple of weeks. It'll be a bloody pain in the arse lugging it out of the car as that's usually dps job but there's no way on earth I'd just sit her on my knee.

Itsaboatjack · 19/09/2013 00:41

Because sometimes dc's need to go in taxis.

dd2 came home from hospital in a taxi. We don't have a car so don't have a car seat. Otherwise we would have had to have walked 3 miles and I didn't fancy that after just having given birth.

janey223 · 19/09/2013 00:50

Never known a hospital to allow someone to leave like that. Even in my inner London hospital babies must be in a car seat.

I have done it a few times but out of necessity. Taxi companies here have car seats but when I visit my parents they do not, which meant until he came out of his travel system he would normally be in that car seat when there incase we needed it.

Original poster

FroggyPop · 19/09/2013 00:52

Hi itsaboatjack I totally understand why taking a taxi is better than walking, I know I wouldnt want to walk 3 miles after giving birth!

The point im trying to make is surely a taxi on the road is no safer than any other normal car on the road, so why all the strict rules and enforceable fines re unsuitable carseats for dc when it doesnt apply to taxis?

OP posts:

DaleyBump · 19/09/2013 00:59

YANBU, I often wondered this myself.

pigletmania · 19/09/2013 01:02

Groggy taxis are meant to be one off journeys, you would not lug a big car seat whist you are shopping. Noway could I carry ds big britax evolve round it weighs a ton

justanuthermanicmumsday · 19/09/2013 01:06

genius that you are like the others who agree I wondered the same after my first child. I wonder the same of public transport in general buses being another really unsafe one. All the money spent costs nothing to add seatbelts especially with the increasing rates.

I wouldn't get into a taxi without a car seat too much jostling and black cab drivers in particular can have crazy driving.

I'm surprised about poster who said she was allows to come home with baby in a cab. It's pure hypocrisy not to mention unsafe. Hospitals refuse to let babies go without a car seat, yet it's ok to get into a cab it's laughable.

badguider · 19/09/2013 01:42

They're not "deemed safe" but there had to be an avenue for emergencies. You wouldn't want people stranded late at night or unable to get to a&e.

PenelopeChipShop · 19/09/2013 01:45

I have wondered exactly the same! Also wondered what people do about bringing a baby home if they don't have a car. All the ridiculously middle class literature I read when pg said the hospital basically won't let you leave without a car seat. I just kept thinking, what you have to buy one even if you don't own a car??!

OutragedFromLeeds · 19/09/2013 01:55

No seatbelts/car seats in ambulances either.

Buses must be the worst though and we use them all the time, as do many, many, many people with young children.

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 19/09/2013 02:07

Actually buses are safer than cars because the way that they slow down means that injuries are unlikely.

Ie if a bus rear ends a car, the bus will keep going. If a car rear ends a bus or another car, the car will stop dead.

The taxi legislation is pure pragmatism I think. Not everyone has a car. Not everyone has reliable public transport. Not everyone can afford a travel system.

Anyway, look on the bright side- I saw an article about a woman in china who got arrested for breast feeding her one year old whilst driving a moped.

OutragedFromLeeds · 19/09/2013 02:15

Not the way bus drivers drive in London. You don't need to collide with another vehicle to be sent flying.

tinyshinyanddon · 19/09/2013 03:00

Because if the airline loses all your luggage including car seat, a taxi is the only way to get home from the airport.

heartisaspade · 19/09/2013 03:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PictureMeInThese · 19/09/2013 03:26

Taxi's are exempt from car seat laws because it would simply be impractical for taxi's to carry around a car seat or two in the boot.You wouldn't want to be denied a taxi because of a lack of one.

As for hospitals not 'allowing' people home without one, they have no right to stop you leaving.

Catsize · 19/09/2013 03:49

Wonder if there has ever been a stand-off at a hospital...
'I forbid you to leave without putting that child in a car seat'!
'Very well, we will stay then. Quite fancy living here actually. What's for dinner please? Should I fill out a form?'.

bigkidsdidit · 19/09/2013 03:57

Of course hospitals have to let you home without a seat. They can't imprison you! My London hospital had lots of babies going home in prams or slings on buses

Pitmountainpony · 19/09/2013 05:18

In the US, the nurse accompanied us to our car t ensure our baby went in a car seat.

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 19/09/2013 05:36

outraged Okay, but if buses really need seatbelts then they should also ban standing, which halves the capacity of the bus, which no-one wants, and what about the tube, and trains for that matter? Anyway, I'm struggling to think of a bus accident in a 30mph area (vs coach accident) in which anyone died.

You have to balance practicalities, enforceability and safety. It is reasonable and practical for parents to have car seats in a car owned by them. It's not practical to ban standing on buses or to make taxis have car seats which they would have to fit every time someone with a kid came along.

Tee2072 · 19/09/2013 05:48

Of course it's no safer. But it's more practical.

halfwayupthehill · 19/09/2013 05:50

I don't have a car, but have car seats for occasional journeys. In the us, my baby had to be strapped into her car seat before we could leave. Legislation allows carseatfree travel for emergencies BUT carseatfree travel in taxis as a matter of course.
I have lugged car seats x 2 strapped to my buggy where i have needed to and had arsy taxi drivers tut as it has taken me time to fit them and i asked if they would like my kid to fly through their windscreen. Yanbu. Taxi drivers should have car seats. One company i know does, but charges five quid extra.

greenbananas · 19/09/2013 05:58

Ds1 (aged 4) is always asking why there are no seat belts on buses.

I've taken the children in taxis withouut car seats on emergency occasions, eg home from a&e, or after being unexpectedly stranded 5 miles away in the rain with no buses nearby. Obviously I don't make a habit of it, but sometimes there is no other way to get home.

bellablot · 19/09/2013 06:00

This is true, children can travel unbuckled in a taxi but an adult absolutely cannot, these are the rules. Also, a child can travel in a car on a short unexpected, necessary journey without the need of a car seat. I suppose flexibility here is key.

HelpMePleaseImConfused · 19/09/2013 06:13

Its for emergencies and whilst i wouldnt do it all the time, i have done it with my 6mo in an emergency. I was walking to pick older dc up from school when my sandal broke. I was stranded with one shoe, half an hour walk from home and had noone who could come and bring me his car seat or some shoes. I rang a taxi to comeband get me. What else could i have done? I think some common sense has to be applied...if most people were planning a taxi trip and had a carseat available im sure they would use it as obviously this is preferrable

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