Myanmar/Thailand- no seat belts? Any tips?

::er!ca:: · Mar 6, 2010

I have a friend who will be traveling to Myanmar/Thailand in April with her (then) 22 month old son. She's done some research and has found that most vehicles only have seat belts in the front seat, but some don't have a seat belt at all. She's wondering what they should do in the event that the vehicle they're getting into doesn't have a seat belt at all. She's worried about keeping her toddler safe. Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks!

hipmaman · Mar 6, 2010

Scary situation and totally unsurprisingly really. I hesitate all these years with the notion of travelling to Vietnam with the kids because thus far, seatbelts were cut off (so they could fit more than the max capacity of # of passengers).

Anyway, this thread has some suggestions for situation like this http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=117251

Neatfreak · Mar 7, 2010

I'm in Thailand, and it isn't really true that most vehicles only have belts in the front.

The great majority of taxis I've been in only have belts in the front seat, but the vehicles driven privately will have seatbelts in the rear positions. Your friend should look into hiring a private car and driver (travel agents or hotel ought be to able to assist with this), and she will be able to request that the car does have belts in the back, if she's really worried. She ought to travel with a locking clip if she's going to install a carseat, though. Not all vehicles, even from manufacturers like Mazda and Toyota, have seatbelts that can be locked manually.