Hi all, Grandpa here! you may remember me from a year ago when I posted the story of my 18 mo old grandson who broke his neck while in a FF car seat. If not, here's a link to his website:
JoelsJourney
As for laws, I agree that the government can be overbearing on laws of how we live. But, I do believe that government has the responsibility to put forth to the public the documented information and/or studies regarding increased risk to our health. From there, with the information made public, the people can make a fully informed decision of the steps they want to take to protect their families.
As an example, in the last 3 years there has been extensive studes published on the increased risks of injury of front facing children vs rear facing children. The concensus is that the odds of severe injury to FF children (under 2 yrs of age) is 5 times greater that RF children. By searching the internet, parents can find that information. But why should we spend our time researching these findings? We have jobs, we have kids to raise, we don't get paid to surf for this information.
But we are paying hundreds of safety specialists in the government! This is where the government should work for the people. Our safety agencies should look into the studies, either prove or disprove the findings, and publish the results to provide parents with validated information. NHTSA states that children can ride FF when they reach 12 mos and 20 lbs. Several recent studies( which I published on Joels website) say that is to young. We, as US citizens, are at a loss of who to believe. I say the government should either proof or disprove the studies, or perhaps do their own controlled study (which to my knowledge has never been done and/or published) and publish the findings to the public.
Go to NHTSA's website. There is NOTHING that speaks of the increased risk of injury to FF children. No warnings. There is only when you can turn your baby forward, and "ease of use" ratings of car seats......which one's are easier for parents to install.
In my opinion, more child safety research and life saving information has been published on this blog ........than by NHTSA.