Police made mom go buy new seat after crash before releasing baby

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
This is a 2nd hand story, so take it with a grain of salt in case it was relayed wrong. The person who told me had been told by the mom herself though, so it seems reliable to me. :thumbsup:

While in my local BRU tonight, I was talking to an employee while I was reading through the manual for the Titan deluxe, and told the employee I was a car seat tech. She then told me about a mom who'd been in earlier in the day who had had a crash about 3hrs prior. Apparently, she was coming in to buy a seat because her baby was at the police station and she couldn't leave to come home without a carseat and they wouldn't let her use the carseat that had been in the crash, so there she was buying a seat.

I have kind of mixed feelings on this. On one hand I'm amazed that the police would be proactive about getting seats out of circulation that have been in a crash and not even letting a baby ride home in one, but on the other hand, what would they do if a parent couldn't run out & buy a seat right then and there?

Very interesting policy to say the least... I know at roadside checks parents with their kids unrestrained or in very old & obviously dangerous seats will be held at a check point until a safe seat is brought for the child. Maybe they're implementing a similar policy with crashed seats? And I wonder what they're doing with the confiscated seats? :question:
 
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jdchic3

New member
I think it's great that they did that. Now, if it were me, I'd never leave my child at the police station, or anywhere, without myself, DH or another person I trust. Either I'd have someone else bring me a seat or have someone come stay with them while I get the seat. Anyway, lol. Good for those police though!
 

natysr

New member
That seems weird to me. It is not like she purposely took them out in old, unsafe seats. She was in an accident.

It is just weird to me. But I don't know anything about Canada really.

But, I will say that when we were in our accident, DH and I both had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance. Jordan was fine, but the paramedics removed his roundabout from my car and installed it in the ambulance and Jordan road along with us. There was a child welfare person assigned to work at the hospital that took care of Jordan while we were being treated. For the most part Jordan stayed in the ER with us, in bed with DH or I (he was 22 months old). She came by and made sure he was okay, gave him snacks and changed his diapers etc. She asked if he was in a carseat during the accident etc. She took him to color while we got xrays. Once we were released, she installed his roundabout in a taxi for us to ride home in. She asked us if we had a spare seat at home and told us that that should be the last ride that Jordan ever has in the roundabout and told us to destroy the seat.

I will also say that while I would never ever ever use a crashed seat, or advise anyone to do so, the reality is that seats are tested after repeated crashes and they still perform. So, I think using a crashed seat long enough to get home after an accident is okay to do.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
I'm wondering if maybe the seat was really old to begin with or something? I certainly haven't heard of this type of thing after a crash before, but if there was visible damage to the seat, I could definitely see them not allowing her to use the seat. And since babe couldn't be transported without a carseat, maybe that's how it happened?

Would be interesting to talk to mom directly... I'm mostly curious how they ended up at the police station to begin with... a whole lot of blanks that I'd love to have filled in.. LOL. But the basic facts took me by surprise even without all the nitty gritty details.
 

natysr

New member
I'm wondering if maybe the seat was really old to begin with or something? I certainly haven't heard of this type of thing after a crash before, but if there was visible damage to the seat, I could definitely see them not allowing her to use the seat. And since babe couldn't be transported without a carseat, maybe that's how it happened?

Would be interesting to talk to mom directly... I'm mostly curious how they ended up at the police station to begin with... a whole lot of blanks that I'd love to have filled in.. LOL. But the basic facts took me by surprise even without all the nitty gritty details.

That is a good point. If the seat is visibly unsafe to use, I can see it, but the confiscate your child after a simple accident seems a bit extreme.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
That is a good point. If the seat is visibly unsafe to use, I can see it, but the confiscate your child after a simple accident seems a bit extreme.

Yeah, that's exactly it... and it's funny you know, because the employee thought it was a good thing and I was kind of on the fence about it..lol. Although in talking about unsafe seats I did find out that any car seat returned to TRU/BRU is destroyed and can't be re-sold. Funny thing about that, is that they sell floor models. :rolleyes:

For the record, since there is often complaints about BRU employees, ;) the employee was very interested in learning about the new titan. She even went and got the manual for me... I explained the harness loops to her and a few basics about the seat that she could help parents with and she was very appreciative. Too bad not everyone has that experience with the employees.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
One possible explanation:

If the cop or paramedic cut the harness to remove the child ( or the tether to remove the seat from the car with child still in it, seeing as how this was Canada) the seat would obviously be useless.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
One possible explanation:

If the cop or paramedic cut the harness to remove the child ( or the tether to remove the seat from the car with child still in it, seeing as how this was Canada) the seat would obviously be useless.

Oh, I never even thought of that possibility. That would make sense.
 

Niea

New member
but on the other hand, what would they do if a parent couldn't run out & buy a seat right then and there?

I imagine they'd call social services or whatever department might be able to help them out. Unless, maybe, the woman has a relative who has a carseat and can come pick them up.
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
It had to have been a fairly bad crash for her to actually be at the station. That would mean the car was not driveable... they were lucky they weren't at the hospital.
 

BudgieStew

New member
Or maybe she was at the station to give a statement.

Way way back in the day I remember after we had a head on collision with a truck, my parents had to go to the station. The driver of the truck was drunk so I assume that they needed further information. I was five so any other details are a bit foggy.

We were in a sporty Corolla you know when it was a sports car.

Seriously I think my Father cried, it was the second brand new Corolla that they totalled in less then a month.
 

luvmy2

New member
I think it's great that they did that. Now, if it were me, I'd never leave my child at the police station, or anywhere, without myself, DH or another person I trust. Either I'd have someone else bring me a seat or have someone come stay with them while I get the seat. Anyway, lol. Good for those police though!


ITA!

Now, are all state highway patrol car seat techs? B/c my aunt asked me at church last week if I had an extra forward facing seat b/c the state highway patrolman told her the baby needed to be turned forward since his feet were touching the back of the seat. :eek:
I told her he was wrong & I wrote down a couple names of cheaper priced convertibles for the child. (He is 8 months, & probably 20 lbs, and a foster child, so she didn't want to spend too much since she wasn't going to have him for long).
 

Kris0722

New member
Now I'm just curious - the Britax seats follow NHTSA's rules on when the seat needs to be replaced, unlike other companies, correct? IF she could drive the car to TRU, then the car was driveable and it is POSSIBLE the seat was not ruined then right? Of course, that assumes it was NOT a major crash, NOT on the side of the car seat, that the seat WASN'T cut out of the car, etc...

I have never heard of an officer requiring this - although in some situations, I wish they would! LOL

I would NEVER leave my ds at a police station though - i get the feeling there is definately a few pieces of the story missing!
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
If she was at the police station, why didn't the cop just take her home instead of there? That's what happened after our crash and our car wasn't drivable. The police officer took us home and we were able to go right out and get a new seat for AJ. I have enough spares now it wouldn't be a problem once we were home, but there's no way I could just run over to BRU and replace my seats, I would never have that much $ laying around...
 

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