Not to want 3 year old ds driving four miles without a car seat?

[bummymummy77]

I know it's rather a niggly little aibu but dh and I are on the verge of falling out over it and he says I'm being ridiculous.

We're flying to the UK and are leaving the car at a long term parking four miles from the airport. Then coming back on the shuttle van on one of the busiest roads in Boston.

I don't want to take ds who's 3 on the van without a car seat. I think even for a short distance it's too much of a risk. It's also going to be -30 so really can't see why ds and I need to be dicking around outside any more than we need to be.

Dh says I'm being ridiculous and it's going to take over an hour longer to drop us off at the airport first.

and a second the cares belt for the plane - so great for safety, but they also can't just leave theircseats. makes flying so much more relaxed!

It's a shuttle bus. Even if you take the seat I doubt there will be seatbelts to fit it with. Let alone space, (airport shuttles are usually packed like sardine tins) people willing to wait while you fit it, and faff with coats, people will be annoyed at you taking up a whole seat for a little child, he's expected to sit on your laps.

You are overthinking this. Your DH is right. I'm very keen on car safety but this is impractical and the chances of getting into an accident are very low. Even if you did, the larger size of a van/bus in relation to a car means the forces involved are very different. Most bus crashes have few injuries, it's only when the bus rolls off the side of a hill or similar that passengers come off badly. For a road (even a busy one) in a city this isn't a concern.

" School buses don't have seat belts. "
In the UK they do don't they?

In the UK school minibuses do, in the US they don't.

I would do this ans I am am very risk adverse when it comes to car seats.

I personally would be ok with not using a seat for this journey, but I would normally get my DH to drop us at the airport departures and me and kids go and get a coffee while he drops the car off and shuttles it over ... maybe another option for you?

Why not leave the seat at left luggage at the airport and pick it up again when you get back?

I think that's what she suggested originally rachy but her DH doesn't want to spend the extra hour.

Do people really take car seats onto planes?! I don't see the point for safety reasons although I suppose they are more comfortable. Wouldn't help much in a crash and in an emergency landing you want to be able to get out quickly? I've never seen a child in one on a plane- is it just for comfort?
I'd be fine with the journey on the shuttle personally, we've taken our 3 year old in a taxi with no car seat on an airport journey once, didn't even think about it really.

You say it would take too much longer to get DH to drop you at airport before dropping off car. Is there an alternative like dropping you and DS at a rail station linked to airport en route?

It's quite common longhaul and in the US Coffee. Less common on short European flights. It is actually much safer in the event of a crash/emergency landing but it's also more comfortable for the child as well and they're more likely to sleep.

More US car seats are approved for flying, European ones which are approved are harder to find because we don't have many car seats which can be fitted with a lap belt only.

No one uses cards eats on buses/public transport.

Unless there's a certain kind of seat belt they can't he fitted properly anyway.

I think your husbands plan is far better.

Buy a cheapish, smaller car seat just for the trip.

The DH is right.

Car seats are about reducing overall risk. The law (in the UK) ensures they are used for most journeys, gaining most of the available benefit, but recognises that requiring them for 100% of journeys is going too far, when you consider both risks and benefits. So you don't have to use a car seat in taxis, or even in a private car when the journey is necessary and unexpected. (Don't remember the exact phrasing, it's something like that.)

So, unless you catch a plane on a daily basis, and assuming the law in Boston is OK with it, going to a lot of trouble to use a car seat on an airport shuttle isn't reasonable.

man10 - I would always prefer to use a car seat though, yes the risk of me being involved in an accident is small, but it could possibly happen with catastrophic consequences and how would I live with that decision afterwards knowing a seat was available and I chose not to use it?

That's how I feel nanny. It's not an airline provided bus it's a van from an external company. And it isn't just small airport roads it's route 1.

Dh has agreed to drop us first. The last thing ds will need is another hour in a car after being in one for 12 hours.

But now he's banging on about maybe we should be taking the seat on the plane anyway. From Mr 'he'll be fine without a seat belt' to Mr Safety crazy ffs!

I don't have time to get a cares. I think my friend may have one so I'll try to snag it. Our car seat is a full steel frame and weighs a shit ton, I can't even lift it by myself.

Stealth, I am in the UK. My DD3 is 14 and goes to school on a contract bus that is a double decker and it has no seatbelts. Not all school transport does.

Coaches used for school trips do have lap belts and the students have wear them.

DS's US school bus has seat belts, but I'm told no-one uses them

If you refuse to take the train or bus then I understand, but if you use the train and bus (they don't have child safety seats) then I don't see why your worrying?