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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
MrsMook · 19/09/2013 08:24

I shall minimise all risk for the next week and stay lying in bed... oh hang on... What's the risk of DVT?

Everything has risk. It's not just the hazard level that needs to be taken into account, but the chance of it occuring.
I can only think of one emergency stop I've needed to do since I've had DCs. A tree fell in front of the car on a rural road. Potentially nasty had the timing been slightly different, but a rare event.

Alwayscheerful · 19/09/2013 08:28

I think an occasional/ unexpected journey would be viewed as a one off, and would be fine in any car. You would always be expected to use the appropriate restraint in your own car but not in an emergency or for an unforeseen journey.

IfAtFirstUDontSucceed · 19/09/2013 08:30

We live in the middle of nowhere and a good couple of miles walk from anywhere and no family or friends local. They're all fast winding country roads too.
I've often wondered when taking DS in his pram for a walk what would happen if I couldn't walk back for one reason or another (twisted my ankle, wheel came off pram etc) and had to get a taxi back.

I've played various scenarios in my head if he wasn't allowed in the taxi without a car seat involving leaving him with a stranger while I taxied back to get his seat.

gordyslovesheep · 19/09/2013 08:31

I think babies have to pay like everyone else

quoteunquote · 19/09/2013 09:59

Taxis and buses are exempt because it would be impossible to have the right seats for all children,

If a parent stopped a taxi and they had twin six month year old babies, a toddler, how would a taxi be able to carry the right seats for that combination, and adjust the seats to fit each child, not realistically possible,

As well as carrying the seats for the same person two years on, with twin two year olds and four and half year old.

If they made it that a taxi had to provide suitable seats they would have to have huge boots,

only certain seats fit certain cars,

the only way round it, would be for the car manufactures and the child car seat companies, were made to have an industry global standard seat, belt, arrangement, so parents could carry their own child car seats (which would be fun, for the above example of parent)

I doubt the car companies will agree to limit car design as that how they compete with each other.

or that every taxi to be a vehicle that all child car seats fit to, and parents carry their own at all times, or not use them,

no government is going to ever attempt to tack this, so they will for ever more be exempt.

taxi insurance companies, must of decided the small amount of pay outs were worth being completive for the taxi insurance trade.

SPBisResisting · 19/09/2013 10:07

Exactly my point too mrsm. I just think its odd the mn is so divided - some people genuinely don't see that everything we choose to do or not do in life has both benefits and risks

ShootMeNowPlease · 19/09/2013 10:12

As others have said, it's about balancing risk and practicality. I wouldn't take DS on a motorway in a taxi without his car seat, but have never worried about it around town (we have a car now, but we didn't for the first year after he was born - he went in a lot of black cabs in his buggy!). Now he's bigger there's no way I could even contemplate lugging his car seat around with me if I needed to take him in a cab - it weighs a ton. If you were flying home from holiday and the flight was delayed so you arrived at the airport after the last train, you wouldn't want to find you were totally stranded till morning because a taxi couldn't take you without a car seat!

Having said that, we did get one ingenious taxi once (not a black cab - an estate car of some kind) where one of the back seats had lots of fold-out bits to convert it into a baby seat. Front-facing, obviously, so no good for a small baby, but DS thought it was marvellous as it put him high enough to see out of the window. It was a very neat piece of design, and a taxi that had that and a group 0 car seat in the boot would be equipped for most scenarios while still having boot space for luggage.

unlucky83 · 19/09/2013 10:15

For those fitting their own seats in taxis and taxi drivers complaining
Not all car seats fit correctly in all cars...a police safety officer told me a badly fitted car seat is more dangerous than no seat...
Imagine if the seat had buckle crunch, there was an accident and the heavy car seat -with baby inside - was flung around inside the car - not only dangerous for the child but also everyone else inside the car....

TaurielTest · 19/09/2013 10:16

When DS1 was born, in London (QCCH), we had no car, and no carseat. I didn't quite feel up to the tube so we came home in a black cab with DS1 in a wrap (sort of rear-facing, I guess); the driver drove very carefully! Best choice for us - as PP have said, it's not that taxis are 'deemed safe', it's pragmatism and practicality.
I can't see how a hospital could have any legal right to detain a discharged patient.

KellyElly · 19/09/2013 10:24

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 left the UCH like that.

thebody · 19/09/2013 10:25

don't be so bloody ridiculous. hospitals can't refuse you to take your baby home!!! this isn't actually a totalitarian state just yet!!

my dd was very badly injured in a coach crash as her belt snapped. others were trapped as their belts stuck.

they don't always guarantee safety.

you have to take some risks/ decisions in life or you may as well stay in bed.

TheCunnyFunt · 19/09/2013 10:26

I don't know if it's been pointed out but my midwife told me that you can take your baby home however you like, they aren't the police and have absolutely no right to keep you at hospital if your baby isn't in a carseat.

hettienne · 19/09/2013 10:32

It's not deemed safe, it just isn't practical to insist on car seats in taxis.

We mostly could bring the infant seat with us when DS was under 18 months as we had a travel system, but what about when they're in the next stage seats - they're massive!

BeCool · 19/09/2013 10:38

London black cabs now have a small child seat option - the central arm rest folds down and converts into a child seat, with seat belt. Not suitable for babies but certainly suitable for toddlers.

thebody · 19/09/2013 10:41

still stunned that people actually believe hospital staff can stop them leaving with their baby and no car seat.

if you have ever worked in a hospital you would know that the sooner you can chuck people out the better as you need the beds. Grin

hettienne · 19/09/2013 11:17

Booster seats are only suitable for children from 15kg though BeCool - DS is 3.1 and still only 14kg. There's quite a long period between outgrowing the infant car seat and being able to just use a booster seat unfortunately - that's the tricky bit.

mrsjay · 19/09/2013 11:22

well parents can take the car seats in the taxis if they want it just wouldnt be viable for a taxi company to have a car seat it it all the time ,

Bumpotato · 19/09/2013 11:23

I've been in taxis with the kids and the taxi has had booster seats that I can't remember whether they folded down or popped up. Great for booster aged kids.

When DD1 was born I wish DH had just taken the pram up to hospital and we'd walked home. At the time we stayed a 5 min walk from the hospital. Strapping a screaming baby into to car seat for the first time (she was objecting to her hat mostly) was traumatic for us newbie parents.

FlapJackFlossie · 19/09/2013 12:56

So just where does the taxi driver put a car seat when he picks up 5 adults? (Bet nobody answers this!)

hettienne · 19/09/2013 13:02

The booster seats in black cabs just fold down and back again FlapJack. IME some minicab drivers keep a booster seat in their boot, and some taxi companies will have a few car seats kept at their office for when someone books a taxi with a seat.

domesticvoyager · 19/09/2013 13:17

Why would the hospital make you have a car seat if you didn't have a car? It's like some people can't imagine anyone not having a car.

Children who are always conveyed everywhere in cars with appropriate car seats must be more likely to be injured in an accident than others who are usually in pushchairs or slings or buses and an occasional taxi freewheel, purely because for most of us driving is the riskiest activity of our day.

pigletmania · 19/09/2013 13:22

It's just not Practicle fr taxis to carry many car seats, and certainly n Practicle for parents without a car to carry them around. Ds is in a 2 sage car seat, tey are heavy and bulky, dd is in a high back booster. Hw the hell (non driving person) can carry those seats around Hmm. Tat is why taxis are exempt, it just won't work in practice

bababababoom · 19/09/2013 13:28

I never take my children in a taxi without a setabelt. I once carried 3 car seats around london all day for that reason. I don't drive, and mainly use buses, but if I can't get there safely, I just don't go, and I would honestly book into a B&B if stranded late at night without a car seat. People might think I'm extreme, but I just don't consider it worth the risk.

pigletmania · 19/09/2013 13:44

You are a bit extreme baba, it's not always Practicle. So we should allstay indoors eh! Noway am I going to carry a 10 kg carseats and a 5 kg booster to the shops, in case I need a cab in case my autistic dd as a mealtdwns and needs to get home fast! I could not manage 2 Chidren, one with sn and car seats I'm not superwoman!. The risk is minimal as its a one off and does not happen regularly

pigletmania · 19/09/2013 13:46

What if there are no b&b or hotels nearby, your in the sticks! There are situations when you will need a taxi and do not have seats to hand,