Have You Driven Without Your Child Secured in a Car Seat?

January 25, 2009

The ladies on The View were pretty upset when a recent episode of The Bachelor featured a young child riding in a limo without a car seat. While we don't know the specifics of the shoot, this is a situation many mamas have found themselves in. Whether it was an emergency situation or a conscious choice, have you ever driven with your child not secured in a car seat?

16 Comments

snowysakurasky 4 years 16 weeks

never except once by accident. back when he was still in his infant seat with attaches to the stroller, we pushed him around, straps open , cozy with a blanket, then clicked him back into the car seat base without lifting the blanket. seeing straps not strapped up... we were so freaked and felt terrible when we found that out!

mstrauss 4 years 16 weeks

When my son was younger, I would push him around in his snap n' go with the straps unbuckled and one time I put him in the car and totally forgot to buckle him in. He wasn't old enough to try to get out, but I was so surprised when I went to take him out and he was already ready for it. Recently, I put him in a forward facing travel car seat and he is 8 months old. I was worried about it since you are supposed to wait until 1 to put a kid in forward facing, so I sat in the back with him and it was fine. I wouldn't say it was the safest thing to do, but he was very secure. In cabs, limos, etc. I think a kid should at least be buckled up, whether or not the vehicle requirs it. Accidents happen!

mhg 4 years 17 weeks

what is elizabeth wearing?? and no, i don't turn the key until the kiddos are strapped in.

vmruby 4 years 17 weeks

No...I don't pull out of my driveway or anywhere else until she's securely strapped in.

StolzeMama 4 years 17 weeks

I have as well, not on purpose. Not of my doing, but my hubbys. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) I have let my daughter not buckle when it's a parking lot, and only if we are going a very short distance in that parking lot. When we went to dc the last time, we left her booster in the car at the airport and didn't have enough time to go back out and get it. I thought that the car rental would have them for rent as is the law in CA, but I guess it's not in DC. We had to drive a mile to the nearest Kmart at 12:30AM dc time just to buy one.

bluepuppybites 4 years 17 weeks

You know some of the worst accidents happen on dirt roads. A girl in high school died driving home, on a dry dirt road, cause it rolled. My dad almost died as well when driving on a dirt road and he rolled, luckily he was wearing a seatbelt. Just because it's dirt or gravel doesn't make it safer.

nevadamtnbear 4 years 17 weeks

when we're out cutting firewood, hunting or out getting our Christmas tree in the forest and woods, we'll let him ride up in the front seat with me without being in his carseat. But, the rule is that it is only allowed on dirt (brown) roads and he knows that when we get to a "black" road he has to go to his seat. Ironically, when we're doing pretty heavy 4-wheeling I make sure he's in his carseat because I want him to be secure even though DH and I don't wear our seatbelts. Haha, kind of funny now that I think about it.

lickety split 4 years 17 weeks

the requirements are different for seat belts according to the type of vehicle it is. when you are in the back of a motor home or on a bus you aren't required to be buckled in. i think it has something to to with the size of the vehicle absorbing the impact. so is a limo big enough to be immune to seat belt laws? i don't know, that was my point.

doogirl 4 years 17 weeks

I will let my kids not buckle up if we are just going across the street, like when we visit my parents and grandparents, but it's in the country and on a rural road. And if we're in a parking lot, I've let them stay unbuckled. If we're going anywhere else, they're both buckled up.

momma tikita 4 years 17 weeks

I do it all the time when we're in the taxi, but of course they both have searbelts while I sit in the middle kind of holding them both. If I'm going in the car somewhere with a friend or someone else I always take the seats out of the car and put them in the other one. What does it matter that it was a limo? If she didn't have a car seat then she should have at least strapped her with a belt.

lickety split 4 years 17 weeks

what are the legal requirements for a car seat in a limo? they aren't required for a bus are they? same as seat belts aren't. and i don't think the kid was even riding in the car, i think they just shot footage of her getting in and of the limo driving by.

techkim 4 years 17 weeks

I said other because it was what I felt an emergency. My son had a heavy object fall on his head when he was 18 months. It hit the front so not full on the head but he did pass out for 2 seconds. So we jumped in the car I sat in the back holding him (he was a wake) just in case I needed to do CPR. Then one time the same child around the same time took his own seat belt off while I was driving on the freeway.

bluepuppybites 4 years 17 weeks

Mine wasn't on purpose either. My sister and I went to do some errands in our capital city and hour away. We took her van so I had to buckle my daughter's carseat in the old fashioned way instead of just snapping it into the base. Well when we were done with the errands we decided to get something to eat and go to a few stores. After we ate, I just put my daughter (who was secure in her carseat) in the seat without buckling it in, thinking I guess it was my car. Luckily we only had to cross the street but I was terrified when I realized what I had done.

YogaMamaMe 4 years 17 weeks

Does it count if it wasn't on purpose? When my son was about 5 months old, I noticed he was complaining about my driving on our way home from the pediatrician (where else?). But, then, we had just returned from a long driving trip, and he pretty much complained any time I put him the car seat. Nothing to induce angina in a new mom like opening the back door of the car to find her son with his bottom still partially in his car seat, the rest of him splayed helplessly across the back seat, still caught in a left hand turn from two miles back.

ladygrace 4 years 17 weeks

No. We don't move without him being strapped in, even just across the parking lot.

keiren63 4 years 17 weeks

In an emergency situation, where we suddenly had to take a taxi because the ride we were expecting had not turned up (accident) which meant we didn't have the car seat. I was stressed the entire time.

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