"New regulations governing the use of child car seats look set to come into force in September 2006.
Under the plans, all children aged over 3 years, but shorter than 1.35m (4'
5") in height, will have to use a booster cushion, child seat or suitable child restraint while travelling in a car fitted with seat belts.
Restraints will be compulsory for all children under three. The only exceptions will be children travelling in the rear of taxis with no child seats, or 'unforeseen emergencies' such as a trip to hospital or a doctor.
The new rules will also stop motorists transporting too many children in the back of a car. If seat belts are provided, the number of people in the rear will not be able to exceed the number of seats with belts or child restraints."
Having had to deal with the aftermath of childern thrown from vehicles I can only say I fully agree. The booster seats make perfect sense. No point being secured in a seat if that security only serves to break you neck. In fact I can't actually see anything that is negative in there.
I can - not there though. Austin didn't mention that they are also planning on making it illegal to use childseats which are more than 8 years old (8 is coming from my memory, but I think it's about that). Nothing to do with whether they were in an accident (that's common sense to replace) - just age of the seat.
A few months ago my wife and I decided to get a new car seat as our then 11 month old was getting to the stage of growing out of the one she was in. We went to the new Mothercare shop and did what you do fiddling with harnesses and the like. When eventually we were served it was by some lassie who kept on going on about "buckle crunch" but absolutely failed to explain to me in simple terms what it was. We decided on one seat, and then they insisted on looking at the car (Land Rover 110 CSW which was parked miles away). So the girl came and looked at the car and saw that we had belts on sticks, so she said that we would suffer from this "buckle crunch". She saw the child seat we had, she tried moving it, and agreed that it was solidly fixed (it's an American seat and came with instructions for fitting to anything from a light aircraft to a truck). On getting back to the store she checked her computer for a seat that was "compatible" with our LR. Nothing. At all. For any of the LR range we had (pre-isofix). They would not sell us a seat, because their COMPUTER said that none of the seats they could get would be suitable.
After speaking with the store manager she agreed that it was unfortunate, but they would not be moved on the issue and the best she could suggest was to speak to Land Rover themselves about a LR genuine parts seat.
So, take your 101 to Mothercare and ask them to fit it out with a childseat so you can stay legal :-) If you were to go the the Inverness one, you'd find they wouldn't sell you a childseat and would turn you away at the door, happy to see children dangerously carried rather than go against the almighty computer.
Small wonder that Argos next door had sold out of childseats when we visited there next. No wonder either that Tescos had started doing them next door as well.
I know that you have to deal with the aftermath, piling up the spare body parts and the like, but I can't see this legislation really helping matter much. The other day the middle aged nurse that was in the news getting a couple of years for killing kids - they weren't even belted in. That's a legal requirement on her vehicle. If she's not even going to belt them in, do we really think she's going to buy seats for them @ 100 quid a pop and strap them in?
Oh yes, for a country that is meant to be looking at being greener, what a fantastic piece of legislation. We really need more 2 car+ families like this will give.
Bah. Parents who care will transport their children safely they do not need big brother to legislate that. If the goverment were really concerned then why not make it mandatory to have built in car seats (ala volvo) and height adjustable belts? Even just in the cars that mostly families use - MPVs, estates etc?
Oh, the recent Which? report on the selling of car seats was interesting as well. Apparently they found that most of the sellers are clueless gowks as well.
Regards
William MacLeod (bee in the bonnet since that day in Inverness...)
To be truthful I can't see much wrong with it. Most responsible people will already carry their children, and others children, safely, securely and 'properly'. Those who don't aren't complying with existing legislation anyway and something that will (probably 'cos it nearly always does) add even more cost to a 'safety device' will still be ignored by the dickwads who don't gaf anyway.
What really worries me (and yes, I'm sort of gonna contradict myself here) is the idea that by legislating, we make things better. We DON'T. By legislating for common sense we're taking away the notion of individual responsibility.
I _do_ agree with legislation which acts to make society safer, though which is where the contradiction comes in, but then again, to counter that I think it's idiocy beyond belief to introduce, as has recently been proposed, legislation to regulate the heat of the hot water coming out of the tap. This was driven by a very sad incident where a child was very badly injured - but where is the common sense? Not making any judgements about the case inpoint, but why do parents (or anyone else for that matter) not know to put the cold water in first, then the hot?
There are a lot of 'common sense' things that are simply being lost altogether IMO - no amount of legislation will enable folk to obtain 'clue', it'll just lead to more criminals...
Probably because you're not going to have to buy another car because of it? Or you don't mind replacing things simply because they are 8 years old and look in perfect condition having had 6 months use?
Even more annoying than the people who try and sell you car seats is the amount of RUBBISH ones there are out there on the market. There is not a single seat that I have found that compares to the older American Fisher Price one I mentioned before, with its built in inertia reel system, it's always adjusted right. Unlike every other one I see in the shops which only restrain properly when adjusted right, and what a guddle it is readjusting a harness in wintry weather with the car door blowing away when your kid is twice the size they normally are due to big jackets etc compared to the next time when they aren't in such bulky clothes.
LR lost static seat belts (who remembers them - can't even lean over to the center dashboard with them!) after the IIa, kids seats still have them. Progress? Yeah right. You want less deaths, you make better car seats designed for real world use, not just looking the part, or matching with your pushchairs.
Yes, these rash reactive pieces of legislation really do little to address the root causes or these "clueless" incidents. I mean, everyone does have their own clueless times, I'd be the first to admit to mine, but no amount of legislation will ever change those, just means that we all get banged up for them. In the case of the hot water thing, I'd have thought that just putting up signs in school toilets above the washbasins would suffice to drum it into kids cold first, hot second, it will stay with them a lifetime if they see it every day and they will automatically just do that.
On 11 Apr 2006 03:26:15 -0700, " snipped-for-privacy@macleod-group.com" scribbled the following nonsense:
already investigating the options.... My favourite at the moment involves large spreader plates, the top of the engine cover, and a very quiet baby rocked to sleep by the burble of a V8. Needless to say, SWMBO disagrees....
engine cover, >and a very quiet baby rocked to sleep by the burble of a V8. Needless to
Sounds like a cosy spot, anyway. Regarding the V8 and sleep, spot on I bet there are a lot of babies who get sent out with Dad to give Mam some peace and are lulled into sleep to the tune of the V8....
(my wife says that its just I can't hear the cries over the engine/transmission noise ;-)
I don't mind replacing child seats that are three years old ... as ours was when our second child was born. That few years of storage was not ideal and I would guess that seven to eight years of storage would be even less likely to keep the seat in good enough condition to put MY CHILD into.
Ah yes. Tim ended up driving around the showground at Peterborough a couple of years ago for this very reason! Charlotte went off to land of nod a treat. Woke the rest of us up, mind! :-)
I agree, people who don't strap their kids in etc. etc. aren't going to suddenly start doing it because of this piece of legislation. The people who care are probably already doing what is in the legislation anyway. Let's be honest, what is the chance of being caught and prosecuted? How many cars do you see with kids bouncing around inside of them? - bloody loads around here!
Whilst there is nothing wrong with those rules in theory, in practice it will make absolutely no difference - just another set of rules and regulations. I can't remember, but when I first saw this I looked into it and I think it is something to do with harmonising the law on this issue throughout Europe.
Like I said - great in theory, but won't make any difference in practice, a bit like a Labour government! (sorry, I know you should never mix politics and newsgroups!)
Re the Mothercare issue - they are probably protecting themselves from the "Injury Lawyers 4U" type of idiot - and who can blame them really.
I had a lift in the back of morph on saturday night and I have to say I almost fell asleep! (it was very luxurious in there in comparison with my vehicle - even if i sat on the floor!). The effect seemed to be working on Lee's kids too, so there must be something in the v8 theory!
My side facing double seats fold up to reveal a forward facing single seats (on both sides) plus plenty of leg room for the then forward facing seats. This has cost a little storage space but whats more important. The rear Cupboard frames are made of angle Iron with seat belt mounts welded in place then nicely finished with a 6mm plywood. All very over engineered. Kids seats go in a treat.
With regards to mothercatre they are just covering there arse due to our compensation culture as well as trying to do the right thing I'd guess.
Bit like Halfords and numberplates for 101's, it's not going to stop people buying perfectly legit ones, they just go elsewhere.
wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
I recently bought an old triumph Stag (good one, solid condition and I don't mean seized solid either!) and decided the first thing it needed (after various other safety related checks) was rear seat belts before my 7 year-old daughter went for a run in it. Now, it would have been legal (I think?) for her to be sitting in the back with NO seat belt due to there being none fitted in 1973, but now that I've fitted (as a responsible parent that cares for his young) brand-new 3-point inertia reel belts with the shoulder belt at the correct height for her, some nitwit expects me to put her on a booster cushion/seat and have her sitting too high for the belt to work properly?? I THINK NOT! The belts are correctly fitted to the mounting points provided by the car manufacturer for the purpose, but due to the nature of the design (the way the soft-top fits in) the shoulder strap is very low, as is the back of the seat, and to be honest wouldn't be comfy for a person over say 5'6" regardless of their age. It's about time the taxpayer stopped having to pay for all these do-gooder namby-pamby nit-wits to sit and decide on the latest issues of legislative stupidity, which I'm sure they do just to try and justify their own existance and paycheques! What we really need is more coppers on the streets, able to pull in a car and "do" the driver if there are kids jumping around not wearing belts that are provided! Education then punishment, NOT smothering with legislative clap-trap!! Oh, how I hate what this bloody useless government is turning our country into! Blair, I 'kin hate your rotten guts!! Other problem of course, is, what's the alternatives.... Badger. (feeling better for getting that off his chest.)
Well that's clearly bollocks from any angle. All cars made after 1987 have to have seatbelts in the rear anyway, and not to use them is already an offence. And none of that stopped that woman getting a puny
2-year sentence for killing three of the 7 kids she had in the car.
On or around 11 Apr 2006 03:26:15 -0700, " snipped-for-privacy@macleod-group.com" enlightened us thusly:
My minibus has adjustable seat belts - the only thing different is a slider which will move down the belt to effectively make it shorter, to fit short people. I don't see why such devices shouldn't be made to retrofit on any
3-point belt. Then you have a suitable child restraint...
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