To be really fed up with parents who don't bother with car seats/let their children sit in the front of the car?

[BananaSkin]

There seem to be loads around here. I think they justify it by assuming that because we live in a city, traffic doesn't move that fast. Some wear it as some sort of badge of honour though, as though being a risk-taker with your children is something to be proud of and something that we neurotic types should consider.

It doesn't normally affect me directly, but it did a couple of weeks ago when a Father turned up to pick up my DC and was about to drive off without DC in a childseat.

My DD is 6 and we use a booster seat but she does sit in the front on occassion.

my childrern sit in the front of the car

There is another thread about this. It may not be wise, but it's not illegal in many situations. For example if the seats don't fit you don't have to have them or if you are giving someone a lift you're not expected to go out and have seats fitted etc.

police also have no powers to measure your child.

My oldest who is 10 sits in the front. He is the size of a small adult. My youngest still sits in the built in booster in the back - well done volvo for designing it!

interesting, I was thinking about this yesterday. we were on our way to a children's theatre production with DS (2.5) when he threw up a whole bottle of milk all over himself, his car seat, his clothes, etc. He was very upset, crying and miserable, just wanted cuddles and screamed if DP tried to put him down.

Got him changed into spare clothes and cleaned up a bit, but then to go home he sat on his dad's lap in the back as the car seat was COVERED in sick, really wet and smelled absolutely vile.

About a fifteen minute drive to go home - yes we could have strapped him in, but we took a judgment call on how upset he would be to be sitting in sick all the way, and decided not to.

So you could say 'oh yes, but if you'd had a crash you'd wish you'd strapped him in, sick or no sick', and you'd probably be right. But sometimes you make a judgment call. So all the people you tut at on your way past....just remember some of the might have a reason for their behaviour.

I'm imagining someone buying 3-4 each of 3 kinds of car seat to cater for which of their kids( or friends) will be in it at any given moment. (putting all the spares on top in case they meet a friend with a little one and give them a lift)

Since it clearly can't work except for the smallest, simplest, families I conclude that most people must be ignoring it as more output from the government's dept of silly ideas.

I have to say I know few people who do stick to it all the time.

Sitting in the front with a booster/ car seat is OK, I think, as long as the air bag it turned off. A lot of people dont' seem to realise than an airbag in a childs face can kill/blind them.

I wouldn't even let DH's grandmother sit in the front of my car, as I can't turn off the air bag, adn she was so tiny. DH thought I was being a bit over cautious.

Quadrophenia and NomDePlume can I just ask why? Not being rude, I just really don't get it.

Presumably a truck load of research was done to come up with the figures recommended, so why take the risk?

DD always sits in the front in her booster with the airbag on but the seat pulled back as far as it will go, as per the car seat instructions.

For me this is safer than turning round to talk to her, and it stops her from feeling sick.

So yanbu about boosters, but sitting in the front is not a problem, imo.

Onager - OK, but research suggests that a child under 11 (off the top of my head) does not have sufficiently strong bones to cope with impact from sitting in the front of the car. Plus, you really don't have to be a genius to organise car seats for a family and visiting friends .

Most children who die in car accidents die within a mile of their own home. ' that is really shocking Stewie - maybe some of the posters on this thread will think twice about it being 'output from the government's dept of silly ideas'.

Er - don't talk to her then frankbestfriend - you are meant to be concentrating on the road!

I tell my children I won't listen to them if they talk to me when I need to be concentrating on driving.

BananaSkin - I haven't heard that before about there being risks to kids sitting in the front (apart from the airbag thing). Can't find anything by googling - can you point me in the right direction?

"Most children who die in car accidents die within a mile of their own home. " - erm, isn't that likely to be because a far greater proportion of journeys take place over that first mile than any other?

After all, every time you do a journey, long or short, you have to cover that first mile from your home, so 100% of journeys include that mile, rather than the place 100 miles from home.

therefore you're more likely to have an accident within that first mile than anywhere else, because you drive it most often.

No?

Bananaskin - does any body have strong enough bones to cope with a colision in the front of the car?

WhatFreshHell I think it's a combination of both.
Agree about it being an assessment of the risks (can see why you would want to comfort an ill child as a one off) but don't understand why people choose to do it all the time.
Mind you I am neurotic - DS was rushed to hospital in ambulance last year - I considered refusing and driving him myself so he'd be in his car seat. Then I told myslef how utterly ridiculous I was being

When i was about seven i was being brought home from school by a friends brother (she had gone to a party so i was on my own) The brother was driving an old Morris Traveller so there were no seatbelts and the seats werent fixed to the ground..... he went round a corner on a country road and met a tractor in the middle of the road,,,,,,, he of course anchored on the brakes and i was thrown from the back right into the front and hit my head on the dashboard(not badly luckily) I know how lucky i was.... I am now neurotic about making sure my ds is strapped in when we go anywhere!

Cornflake, I have had a quick google and I can't find it tbh. I remember it well as we were trying to decide whether we needed to change out our car when DS3 arrived, and we did. I think it was a reliable source and will post again if I can think what it was.

DS1 is 137ish cm, and I still make him sit on a booster.

I would have made DH's grandmother sit on one too, if we'd had a spare.

In the early 1980's my friend's dad, took 7 children to school in his old morris minor and we were all jammed in and i was on the floor and could see the road!
It was so rusty there was a hole just under the rear seat.
We only did that trip once (thank goodness).