Advice needed - baby car seat questions (merged)

BernadetteN

nej wrote:

What about adults under 4'5"? Or kids over 12 for that matter? Not quite sure I see what the difference is.!

The difference is that a child is still growing and has lighter bones than an adult and seat belts in cars are made for adults and their bones, not children.

nej wrote:

I'm not sure how tall my 9-yr old is, but I think she's perfectly safe sitting on the seat with the adult seatbelt on. I don't think she'd be pleased about sitting on an uncomfortable booster seat on a long journey compared to the nice comfy leather car seat!

I'd better go measure her!

I'd rather my children were unhappy at having to sit on booster seats and safe than without booster seats and under adult seat belts and at higher risk of injury in the event of an accident.

In the 10 years that I have had kids, booster seats have ALWAYS been recommended for children up to 150cm or 11 years old and I have always followed that advice, although the government opted out of the European Directive advising 150cm and chose the more acceptable option of 135cm for the new law. My 10 and 8 year olds are still sitting on rather comfortable Britax Hi-Liner seats and shall continue to do so until they reach 150cms.

BernadetteN

tazandtommy wrote:

Sorry to go off the subject, but does anyone know if you are aloud rear facing baby seats in the front. I'm due in Oct and it would be a lot easier If the baby was in the front with me. I have a oldish Fista (P Reg) I dont have a air bag in the front passanger seat.
Thanx

Yes you can put a rear facing car seat in the front passenger seat - if you really feel you need to, follow advice on the government road safety website to not have an airbag and to put the seat as far back from the windscreen as possible. Your baby would however be far safer going in the back seat of the car, on the opposite side to the driver. It depends on what you see as more important, ease of having baby in front or safety in back.

marklefty

I have just found this on the Halfords site, I haven't seen nor heard about this at all. Luckily both of our children are bigger. This is what it states:-
Child seat safety laws are in place to protect your child when travelling by car. As the UK's leading child seat retailer, Halfords has been campaigning for more than 5 years to raise awareness of child seat safety and improve the law. On July 18th a new child seat fitting law was passed that could prevent more than 2,000 accidents each year. Enforceable from the 18th September 2006 with on the spot fines. This is the link to the site http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&mpe_id=11552&jspStoreDir=HalfordsConsumerDirect&intv_id=17546&partNumber=ST_711&evtype=CpgnClick&langId=-1&catalogId=10151&ddkey=ClickInfo
Has anyone else seen or heard of this???

Poppy9

Yes I have heard of it. I have also been aware of current legislation for the past 11 years. My DD complained she was the only one of her friends still using a booster seat at 10 but she wasn't tall enough so she had to continue to use it for safety.

I do know that most of my friends abandoned the use of booster seats by the time the kids were 5 as they didn't like sitting on them.

squibbs25

There is supposed to be a nationwide advertising campaign from June to September. So far all I have seen is on here and in my local Mothercare store where they have a height chart on the shop window and a banner expalining the new rules. I thought it was going to be a bigger campaign, with ads on the TV ect.
That reminds me, must get booster tomorrow for ds (8).

Squibbs

spud30

They have said for years that adult seatbelts are not in the correct position for children.

My kids are 10 and 8, and both still use boosters.

bargainboy

seen this before but i think it is absoloutly shocking that a retail shop has an effect on the law and it is not the likes of the AA, RAC, and major insurance companies that have brought this law in seems to me that halfords have done for thier own benefit however the outcome is the correct one

jellyhead

i've been looking at car seats and there are some good value ones that will last right up to the height limits mentioned, so it's not necessarily a money spinner for halfords of people simply buy a seat that will last up to 11 when they are buying the next stage up for their 3/4 year old. of course there are people like my sister who don't buy the next stage and simply let the 3 year old sit with an adult seat belt. i suppose halfords might get some extra money out of them, but they are just as likely to expect to wriggle out of it if caught (using the 'short or occasional journey' bit. my sister has now bought seats for her children aged 6 and 9, after seeing her best mate's son almost killed after an accident where the hospital staff said he'd have been barely hurt at all if he'd been on a booster cushion.

as others have said there's been little mention of the new law. there was a snippet in one of the papers, boys brigade photocopied it for parents and started to fundraise to buy booster seats for their trips out. there was a poster on the wall at the child development centre, i saw it when baby went for his 7 month check. there's a height chart in mothercare, and it's mentioned in the mothercare and toysrus catalogues. but not all parents will have seen those ads, especially if they don't have a baby or toddler.

Janepig

I didn't think of how it would affect schools or groups until I read your post Jelly - what will schools do for trips and things, and I guess things like Brownies/Guides/Cubs, etc... Well, anything really. And I suppose day nurseries that do school pick-ups - they often take children up to the age of eight. I'd just thought of it in terms of me and my children. Hmmmm.

Jxxx

montycat_2

There are exemptions on this though ,ie short trips ,taxis ,where a 3 rd booster seat won't fit .
I think it applies to cars -coach rules etc are usually different .

My daughters are 8 and 10 and both are 135cm in height so exempt .

The school has been actively campaigning on this so ,the parents in my neighbourhood are well aware and ,the Police have been in and talked to the children .