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ACTIVITY => Activity Time & Toddler Activity => Topic started by: Hihowdy on May 22, 2006, 01:41:44 am
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Claire is 14 months old and we are taking a trip to Chicago next week...I have heard that you travel mostly by cab. We will have our car but to park at the hotel is $30 a day and there are no in and out privilages. So we will be releying on mass transit. Is it legal for her to ride in the cab without a car seat. I know it isn't necessarily safe but I was just wondering if it is legal. We will not be lugging a car seat up and down the magnificant mile! Anyways just wanted to see of someone had experience with this. Thanks!
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I'm not sure about the states but in Canada it is definitely illegal. You might want to check with Illinois motor vehicle department as to their specific laws. Have a great trip.
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Illegal here in the UK too, not sure about the USA but just think how dangerous travelling in any car with a LO who is not in a car seat is.... are you willing to take such a big risk?
H xx
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I very much doubt it would be legal.
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HI Claire,
I agree that it's safer so just bring it for ur lo's safety right?
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I'm almost positive it is illegal. I don't get downtown too much, but I know that there are free trolleys that you can take to certain locations, you don't need a carseat on those. try this link for more info
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalDeptCategoryAction.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1578254060.1148438752@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdaddhkmfejmkcefecelldffhdfgm.0&deptCategoryOID=-536896557&contentType=COC_EDITORIAL&topChannelName=Dept&entityName=Transportation&deptMainCategoryOID=-536896085
Hope you have a great time here! The weather is supposed to be great!
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I'm not sure about the states but in Canada it is definitely illegal. You might want to check with Illinois motor vehicle department as to their specific laws. Have a great trip.
Actually it NOT illegal in Cabs in Canada. They can't enforce it due to the multiple regulations of car seats. In Canada you can have children (even infants) in a cab without a car seat.
Doesn't mean you should, but you can.
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wow that's crazy karita!! i have to admit that i was just in toronto and it was SUCH a pain in the butt lugging a carseat, stroller...etc everywhere - but i wouldn't have gotten in a cab with dd without it.
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I'm guilty of doing it once :-[
We got stuck out one day and DD was getting super fussy, and it was raining really hard and we couldn't walk :( She was 7 month at the time. I was so tence the entire time, but felt I didn't have a lot of choice. The driver was super careful and took the roads that had less travel.
But if it hadn't been so late and rainy and cold. I wouldn't have done it. I've never done it again, and I wont be.
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i can see where it would be tempting to ditch the car seat and take a taxi with dd and i have similar thoughts about doing things quickly/easily (that don't quite fit into the safely criteria) with my ds sometimes but at the end of the day i can't bring myself to! the worst case scenario is just too rotten. i hope that you find a solution that lets you enjoy your visit and be safe x
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I don't know about Chicago, but we're off to New York in a couple of weeks and I had the same concern. On the NYC transportation website it says:
"Drivers of yellow medallion taxicabs and for-hire vehicles and their passengers, are exempt from laws regarding car seats and seatbelts. Keep in mind, the TLC encourages everyone in the vehicle to buckle their seatbelts while riding in a cab. There are no Taxi and Limousine Commission rules regarding this, as it is a State exemption. Passengers with children are encouraged to bring their own car seats, which the drivers must allow passengers to install."
I'd be super nervous travelling around a major city without our LO in a car seat. Luckily his seat clicks into the pushchair frame so we'll be taking the whole lot across the Atlantic with us. A pain I know but better safe than sorry.
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I DO live in NYC and have never taken a cab with DD for this reason. She no longer fits into her infant seat and the convertible seat is installed in our car. So not sure what we would use in a cab.
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I stand corrected...I had my dh check the Ontario Highway Traffic Act and the section essentially states that the taxi driver has to ensure everyone under the age of 16 is restrained or the driver could be fined, but any child weighing less than 23 kg (a child for whom the restraints do not fit properly basically) is exempt.
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I think there are exemptions for babies in taxi's in the UK too :o.
We are without a car for 6 months (except the odd weekend when we hire one) and are doing a lot of bus travel and walking. I am not familiar with Chicago but would also advise using public transport if possible - and using an umbrella fold stroller for walking in between.
Having said that I have not been able to get through a single bus trip without imagining what would happen if it crashed :(. However, as DH pointed out when I told him this, at least the bus (being heavier) would not stop suddenly and is generally travelling slowly.
I hope you have a great holiday! :)
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UPDATE!
We went to Chicago and we never rode in a taxi! I guess I never thought about the bus! Duh! That is what we did. We either walked or rode a bus. It worked out great. Some times we would take Claire out of the stroller and I would hold her her (when the bus was full) and DH would fold up stroller and be in charge of that. But one time the bus was empty so we just wheeled her onto the bus in her stroller. It worked out great and I didn't even stress over the taxi issue!
Thanks for all your help!
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Glad you had a good time! Hope you didn't get rained on too much :D
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I know it's alittle past the issue but my dh drives a taxi in the town we live in and if you ask for it they will provide a carseat.
I'm glad you didn't have to worry about it thou. Hope you enjoyed yourself.
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Glad you had a good time in Chicago - and managed to resolve the car seat issue ;D
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I was wondering about how that works, and then reading karita's post made me realize that i've actually done it once too! I never even thought twice. We were in San Francisco, had ridden the bus a couple miles to see the Christmas tree lighting, and dd started freaking out and wouldn't stop crying or screaming (turned out she had an ear infection, but we didn't know it yet), so instead of waiting for the bus and subjecting everyone on there to her, we took the 5 minute cab ride. Maybe it was cause she was freaking out so badly, but I never even thought to wonder if she needed a carseat, and not like we could have done anything at that point.
I've always thought it a little strange that buses don't have seat belts, but I guess they assume that they are so big. . .
~kim
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Yes, you can ride in a taxi with your child on your lap in the uk at least. I think the actual wording is something like ' must ride on an adults lap, adult wearing appropriate seatbelt in the back seat whereever possible' it because a badly fitting carseat offers very little protection at all.
and on the wider subject of safety - i have ridden in the back seat of our car with ds on my lap several times. I know its illegal and unsafe, but riding on a bus with no seatbelts at all is even more unsafe, putting a screaming, upset baby into a carseat covered in sick on a cold winters night is cruel, and trying to walk home in the dark and pouring rain with a toddler who managed to toss the raincover into the road is horrible!
I would never let him be in the back o f the car on his own unless he was in a carseat, if its bad driving or windy roads he is strpaped in and if he starts trying to climb around its straight into the seat, but on long journeys he gets very ill and upset so when he is all sleepy and upset I will take him out and cuddle him to sleep then pop him back in the carseat. Makes for a better journey for us all - and tbh I think the dangers of having a screaming child distracting the driver are more real than the risk that my partner who is an excellent driver, will crash the car on a straight, safe, motorway.
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I've always taken the time to do the extra planning to make sure the correct seating is available for all journeys. If it hasn't been possible then the journey has not taken place or has been delayed until it is possible to get it right. I know a family who lost their daughter from (in their words) "bending the rules". Arriving on time just isn't that important.
Andy
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I've always taken the time to do the extra planning to make sure the correct seating is available for all journeys. If it hasn't been possible then the journey has not taken place or has been delayed until it is possible to get it right. I know a family who lost their daughter from (in their words) "bending the rules". Arriving on time just isn't that important.
Andy
I agree Andy - I'm a forward planner too and am a stickler for safety.
I know being rained on is horrible and that putting a LO into a carseat when they are sick seems a bit mean but I'd rather have a wet tearful baby than an injured (or even worse) baby. It only takes a second and no matter how safe the driver is in the car you are in.. there are plenty of other appalling drivers out there to make the odds not worth the risk.
H xx
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being a parent puts you in so many crazy places with so many crazy choices to make doesn't it! i am not a great planner and have found myself completely out of my depth with bad weather, pukey baby, cross baby, sad baby etc. even worse, even when you DO plan for what feels like every possible occurance, babies just know how to throw us off our game. goodness knows that there have been times i have been sorely tempted to do what is easy. i wish i could say that i have made decisive safety decisions but in truth, it has been fear that has stopped me from doing unsafe things and the paranoid belief that if i did something wrong even just once that i would pay for it! i can control my car but i can't control everyone's car... :(
probably i have been worse since i had a miscarriage and the whole trying to conceive also makes the baby i have got seem more precious, but i still check my son during his naps to make certain that he is breathing and leave the door open at night so when i get up in the middle of the night i can just check him....
riab, i hope you don't feel badly that there have been so many posts written after yours about safety and for everyone else, i just want to wish that NONE of us ever experience road accidents with our los! Hihowdy, i am glad that Chicago worked well from the bus and you had a good time! x
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Hi Riab, don't want you to feel picked on but PLEASE reconsider before you take your DS out of his carseat. Three and a half years ago I was in my parents' car riding in the backseat -- no seat belt, not a law here -- through local streets, slow speed limit, etc. when we were struck from the side by a man who was speeding and ran a stop sign. My dad never saw him coming -- and the impact knocked me completely unconscious for something like 5 minutes. It took me nearly 9 months to recover from the accident and I weigh a whole lot more than a baby.
It is so hard to drive with a baby that is upset...and I hated the time that Katie threw up all over herself and I had to drive her home while sitting in it, but she got over it. So please (and this is said with love and caring) don't take him out of that carseat.