Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Site stuff

Join our Innovation Panel to try new features early and help make Mumsnet better.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

MNHQ

Mumsnet on Jeremy Vine tomorrow talking car seat legislation - your views please!

92 replies

carriemumsnet · 12/09/2006 17:08

Hi all

We've been called by Jeremy Vine show to talk about new car seat legislation. Their interest was sparked by this article from the Times

There will be a govt minister and an 11 year old reluctant to return to his booster. Would love to hear your views so I can pass them on.

Do you think they should have introduced a law?
Do you think it's enforcable?
Have you seen the leaflet and is it clear to you what you need to do?
Are you worried about persuading your child that they have to go back into a car seat?

Thanks in advance

OP posts:
SherlockLGJ · 12/09/2006 17:10

I am not convinced it is enforcable, much as I feel it should be.

I rather think it will go the way of the mobile phone ban.

SherlockLGJ · 12/09/2006 17:11

I have yet to see a leaflet and indeed if it were not for MN I would not have known a thing about it.

hunkermunker · 12/09/2006 17:12

Be bloody good if they can make it so that children don't clamber round cars unrestrained by the chimps who are meant to be their parents (no ofence to responsible chimps).

Medulla · 12/09/2006 17:13

Think the theory behind the new legislation is a very good idea. Feel that the parents with children who are out of their car seats but now need to go back into one will be tough, my children will know no difference.

Sobernow · 12/09/2006 17:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:17

My biggest thing about it is for parents of 3 or more - I know that in my car, I can only fit 2 car seats (I have tried), possibly 3 boosters at a push, but definately not with the baby seat. If I had one older than DD I would be needing a new much bigger car, which would probably fall into the big car tax wotzit. The extra cost for something that wouldn't have been needing considered when I planned DS (assuming he is that fictional 3rd child), and would have been crippling.

I am worrying about THOSE parents , plus grandparents, who could happily take out their 3 grandchildren at the moment, but must now either buy a new car, or just take two.

Does that make sense?

hunkermunker · 12/09/2006 17:18

FS, yes, think car manufacturers should definitely design inbuilt car seats for children that go from birth to 11.

And then if the moon could be placed upon a stick in my back garden, I'd love it [hopeful]

Medulla · 12/09/2006 17:19

I know what you're saying Flamesparrow but they haven't brought these laws in to mess us around it's for the safety of our children.

hunkermunker · 12/09/2006 17:19

(Sorry, FS - wasn't being sarcastic to you - more the fact that children have been being put in cars for donkeys years and only recently have a minority of car manufacturers acknowledged this with Isofix as standard)

KathyMCMLXXII · 12/09/2006 17:20

As Janice Turner says, "The DfT says that 30 children under the age of 11 die every year in car accidents and 400 are seriously injured. Yet it provides no data on how many of these were due to children using adult belts at age 6 rather than 9"

I really, really want to know that, and I think it's extremely unreasonable to make this law without this information being easily available in the public domain. (If the figures are convincing let's see them.)

However, I do think it's great that this has drawn attention to the fact that boosters are useful even for older children, something I didn't realise.

Furball · 12/09/2006 17:20

I thought it was already the law and was quite surprised that it wasn't.

I have not seen any literature or advert stating what/when these laws will be enforced - maybe a telly campagn would be a good idea?

The 11 year old needs to be shocked into what could happen if he is not in a booster seat. It is not being eforced to make him look silly with his mates!

NotAnOtter · 12/09/2006 17:21

An article in saturdays Times had a picture showing a big and miserable child in a seat being seemingly mocked by an older sibling and i do think this gives the wrong message.
It is our job as parents to enforce the legislation and afterall it is only there to protect our young.
My 9 year old is way too big to fall within the guidlines and has been for a while but if my younger children need seats until 11 then I shall enforce it. That said I remember my son being mocked in RECEPTION by another boy for still being in a car seat!!!!! Its up to the majority to be sensible and soon it should become the norm. That said - I would not fancy being amongst the first to pesuade a small but bolshy 11 year old back into a carseat!

Freckle · 12/09/2006 17:22

The legislation is unclear. It states that children under 135cm or under 12 need a booster (whichever they reach first), so that a child under 12 but over 135cm won't need one. But they also state that adult car seats are designed for people over 150cm and of an adult's body weight - so what does that tell us?

I have received no direct information regarding the new legislation, just picked it up here and there. I don't think that all car seat retailers understand the law properly as there have been incidences of misinformation being given to parents (with a view to increasing sales???).

What are the penalties for not ensuring a child sits on a booster? Will the police be carrying tape measures with them and subjecting potential miscreants to the embarrassment of being measured at the side of the road?

To be honest, most responsible parents ensure their children are seated appropriately for their age and height. And those that don't are unlikely to be persuaded to do so by this new law.

Medulla · 12/09/2006 17:22

Sorry FS that wasn't supposed to come across so blunt because I really do think you have a valid point esp about grandparents etc I just mean I guess we've got to remember why the law is being brough in. Travelling in cars is a killer!

KathyMCMLXXII · 12/09/2006 17:23

Also agree that the lack of notice is a disgrace. I believe that the wording was changed very late on, too, from 'occasional short journeys' to something about necessity.

Don't they understand that things need to be planned for, especially when it may involve such major financial outlay as, um, buying a new car?

hunkermunker · 12/09/2006 17:23

Thing is, there's already a lot of information in the public domain about how important it is to put babies in car seats.

Did it stop the woman I saw climbing into the back of the car with her newborn in her arms? No. She'd been wailing about some minor problem with him in the clinic, but cheerfully sat in the front seat with him in her arms (and no, I didn't intervene, but I did go back into the clinic to make sure the HV knew [busybody]).

Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:23

I know that it is being done for good reason, and I plan to follow it - I am just trying to work out how parents are affording it.

You're right HM - car manufacturers really don't think car seat friendly!

multitasker · 12/09/2006 17:24

I was of the belief that in the case of three children needing boosters, one child - probably biggest may sit in middle of backseat with just a seatbelt as my car can't take three boosters?

Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:25

What is the penalty?

Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:25

As far as I was aware all children (of x age n height) must have boosters, end of story.

Gobbledigook · 12/09/2006 17:26

I can see all the issues - even those against - but at the end of the day, for me, it's just a no brainer. If you are in an accident, don't you want the children you are carrying to have the best chance of survival?

Piffle · 12/09/2006 17:27

My daughter has small stature due to a genetic syndrome
She may never make the legal height
Imagine picking her up from a school disco when she is 15...

Flamesparrow · 12/09/2006 17:28

That's where the over 12 thing comes in - something to do with adult bodies (over 12s being adult or something) reacting differently in accidents.

PandaG · 12/09/2006 17:28

I have not seen any literature on the subject, apart from on here.

My 2 are still in high back seats, DS 6 goes on a booster sometimes when in a different car as it is lighter to carry. I am glad I have continued to insist on this and, as my 2 are short they will be on booster seats for a long time yet.

I do agree though FS - there is no way we can fit 3 car seats in the back of our car, and cannot turn the airbag off in the front, so I can no longer give a child a lift in our car if I follow the spirit of the new law. If our back seat was flatter, rather than shaped up at the edges I think 3 seats would fit, slightly off topic I know, but think car manufacturers do need to take this into account - we do not want to drive a people carrier.

Gobbledigook · 12/09/2006 17:29

I personally couldn't give a shit about the embarrassment - it only takes one d*ckhead driving like a pillock and bam, your child's life could be over. Blunt but true.