To think driving skills are way more important for safety?

[FurierTransform]

"you should keep your child in a rear facing car seat until they're 4 - it's so much safer"
"Can't believe you'd even consider a 2nd hand car seat"
"Get a new car to transport your kids around - a big safe SUV, not a 10 year old deathtrap!"

I'm sure you've all heard/read the above loads on MN & elsewhere, yet when have you ever heard someone say "Not a very good driver? you should get some training"

I lacked driving experience & therefore confidence a few years ago, so on recommendation I did some advanced driver training with the IAM - Car control stuff, road driving techniques, hazard awareness etc, & it really opened my eyes.

The big point I took away is that almost ALL car accidents are completely avoidable - even those that you'd think you have no control over like being rear ended/sandwiched by a distracted driver when approaching some traffic lights. Check your mirror early, leave large gap, slow down gradually, no sudden braking, hey presto - no accident. 9/10 drivers - wait until the last second, don't anticipate or look ahead, brake hard, etc etc.

AIBU to think that if people truly cared about the safety of their children when driving them about, the first thing they should do is to acknowledge their level of driving skill & get some proper training? It's not even that expensive when compared with a £300 child seat!

I only half agree, OP. It is true that you can avoid causing an accident yourself, and you can prevent some others, eg by rapidly flashing your brake lights or putting hazard lights on, as soon as you see someone coming up too fast behind you when you are stationary at an obstruction.
But you can’t prevent someone crashing into you head on, if they are stupidly overtaking on a blind bend. Or if they skid unexpectedly on a patch of unseen black ice.
And it’s those circumstances, where having a car with better crumple zones etc can make the difference.
I have never had an accident (tempting fate, I know!) in 40 years of driving, including doing 110mph as an on call doctor, and I put that down to reading the road, checking mirrors and anticipating other drivers’ likely manoeuvres. But if I ever meet an idiot on the wrong side of the road on a bend, that isn’t going to protect me.

It doesn't matter how good your driving is. I say this as a former advanced police driver.

Certain things yes you can plan for as your IAM training has shown you.

There's plenty you can't odds though isn't there. Like a car pulling out of a hidden junction, someone falling asleep or having a medical episode and crossing into your lane, there's so many variables.

It's those times when your big car and rear facing car seat might be worth their weight in gold.

Well done on doing the training though, if the methods taught from roadcraft were part of normal driver training the roads would be infinately safer.
Sadly it's only IAM or police driver training that people become aware of the roadcraft book and teachings.

People’s understanding of the Highway Code and ability to read the road is so poor

Yes, you really wonder how some people got through their test, especially when you hear about the sort of thing other people apparently failed on. There are obviously some very odd driving examiners out there.

As a frequent motorway driver, I firmly believe that some drivers think they’re driving in a video game.

regardless of your own driving skills, there's no accounting for other idiots on the road.
Improving your driving skills will reduce the risk from others, but not eliminate it.

I can’t control other peoples driving though.

I can control keeping my car as safe as possible by using car seats (Ds is 11 and still in a HBB) and driving safely myself.

Using the right car seat is in my opinion one of the most important things for any parent who will be taking their child in a car.

This is a good point. The op didn’t say you could prevent all accidents but you could prevent a lot. There is way too much hysteria around car seats in some discussions.

The problem is OP most people think they’re excellent drivers already.

I had my car written off at a red light. I was about 10 cars back and watched the car behind me drive about 500m and slam into me without braking. Being on a bridge with oncoming traffic, I was a sitting duck. Guy hit me so hard he took out my petrol tank. I was concussed but do remember the lovely policeman saying it was my great driving that meant only my car and the idiots was ruined. The car in front of me was barely touched.

I agree that you should not get behind a wheel if you are not a competent driver, that's just common sense and applies to everyone, regardless of if they are transporting children.

However been a good driver dose not replace the need for a good car seat and road worthy car. You cannot control other drivers, and even if you can reduce the likelihood of being involved in an accident, that doesn't make the crashes you can't avoid (1/10 if you're figgers are right) any less dangerous.

Fortunately it's not an ether/or situation, you can be a good driver AND rear face your child, so there's no need to rank these things in order of importants. When you start making claims like 'X is more important than Y', there will always be people who read that as 'Y isn't important' which is ridiculous and dangerous. Surely you've read the threads about (mostly) grandparent insisting they can drive round with babies on their partner's knee, because they're such good drivers.

I'm sure you've all heard/read the above loads on MN & elsewhere, yet when have you ever heard someone say "Not a very good driver? you should get some training"

You see it all the time in the "who was at fault for this accident?" threads, along with assertions that posters shouldn't be driving at all, should be more familiar with the highway code and calls for mandatory driving re-tests at regular intervals.