Car seat law exemptions

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
So I was thinking the other day, about how some vehicles are exempt from carseat laws.

Ones that I can think of off the top of my head here are taxi's, and if anyone is leasing or renting a vehicle for less than 2 weeks.

That being said, just because those vehicles are exempt from carseat laws, they're not exempt from seatbelt laws. So by law, a baby would have to be in the seatbelt then, right?

I'm wondering if all those parents who just decide to hold babies in their laps in a cab "because they don't HAVE to use a carseat," realize they could still get ticketed?

* I know this doesn't address the complete lack of safety a child who isn't in a proper restraint has. But since some people only care about laws, I thought this was an interesting thought. Maybe if people realized the seatbelt law still applied, they'd bother to bring a carseat for their child?


* Disclaimer - states and provinces vary by what type - if any, exemptions they have for child passenger safety laws, and I'm not sure if all states have seatbelt laws or if exemptions exist for those in some types of vehicles. My comments are purely based on AB law, but I'm sure it's got to be similar in other places.

Just my interesting thought of the day. :thumbsup:
 
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aja

New member
there was a case a couple years ago in...michigan maybe? where a woman was nursing while driving and the law was that you could take a baby out a carseat to feed them. :eek: how does stuff like that get on the books?
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
there was a case a couple years ago in...michigan maybe? where a woman was nursing while driving and the law was that you could take a baby out a carseat to feed them. :eek: how does stuff like that get on the books?

I have to think those things get into laws in order to appease some of the nay-sayers in order to just get a law passed in the first place. Somebody says "what about" and refuses to sign unless something is put in there about it... others think it's not going to be something regularly occurring, so don't object?

Who knows... I think taxi & rental/leased vehicles are just because they think it's impossible to expect or enforce somebody who is only a temporary passenger to have a carseat. But the fact is that not everywhere has taxi exemptions or rental/leased cars exemptions, and they obviously deal just fine. Wonder how many cases of kids that are injured due to improper restraint occur because they're riding in a taxi or other exempt vehicle?
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Remember, some of these laws are very old, so these are excemptions that were written into the original laws in some cases and never removed.
 

Shanora

Well-known member
She was Nursing WHILE driving....how the heck do you manage that??? Geez.....A tiny baby between you and the steering wheel...sounds like a good idea to me.....:thumbsdown:
 

aja

New member
She was Nursing WHILE driving....how the heck do you manage that??? Geez.....A tiny baby between you and the steering wheel...sounds like a good idea to me.....:thumbsdown:
and on the phone, and one article said taking notes?? my mom said she remember nursing me while driving. :eek: she said that was why she kept my carseat in the front seat - so she could get me in and out of it easier. :(
 

HEVY

New member
You guys are way to nice, this woman is the reason why Social Services exists. No license, I'm guessing car seat in front, I'm also guessing not harnessed so she could easily remove and put back the child. What if the baby decided to grab the wheel? She was 7 months old. Did that law state you could drive while breast-feeding OR you could remove your child from the car seat to breastfeed. This was safer than talking on the cell??? Of course SHE was wearing her seatbelt, cause risking HER life would be unheard of. Does it really take two hours to breastfeed? If having a kid is too time consuming then why have one. What goes through her mind when she thinks she only has to follow the laws of the state she lives in. OMG! I'm frustrated, even though this story is 5 yrs old it really gets to me cause I know ppl are still out there with this mentality. I would REALLY like to see an update on this story.
 

Mommy2Marcus

New member
Okay...I would NEVER let a car move without my child in a car seat. I would absolutly take the time to install a car seat in a taxi if/when I needed to. I do not see that happening in the near future though, but you never know. I also can not fathom WHY on earth this woman thought it was safe to take her child out, breastfeed & drive at the same time, but she would be a FOOL not to buckle herself up. Okay...where the heck does that logic come in?? Okay...it is unsafe for ME to not wear a seatbelt, but it is perfectly SAFE for my 7 month old to NOT ride in her car seat. WTH? What was she thinking...things like this eat me alive!
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
there was a case a couple years ago in...michigan maybe? where a woman was nursing while driving and the law was that you could take a baby out a carseat to feed them. :eek: how does stuff like that get on the books?

This was in PA I believe, but the woman was from Michigan (or had been at one point). MI does, unfortunately, have an exemption for while a baby is being nursed. :( (Though I do NOT think that being nursed by a driver is covered under the law.) Her defense was that since she was driving from MI to PA - she had been in MI on business, I think - then she should be exempt.

I'm not sure whether that exemption has been removed by the booster seat law that was passed last week, because that law ADDS to the existing law covering kids up to age 4 rather than completely replacing the law.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Might be with many provinces too. Public transportation are often exempted from any kind of restraint. Scary isn't it?

Absolutely terrifying. Especially scary is that my sister owned her own cab for a while, so my neices and nephew were never in a car seat that entire time because "they don't need one" in the cab. :mad:
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Absolutely terrifying. Especially scary is that my sister owned her own cab for a while, so my neices and nephew were never in a car seat that entire time because "they don't need one" in the cab. :mad:

:jaw: Oh my, I can't imagine. I know how I feel knowing my nephew is sometimes in the front seat of my bro's or else SIL's (talking 2 different families, same nephew,) and likes to pretend to shift while they're driving around the farm or small distances and it just makes me cringe. (He's 14mos old, around 35lbs.. I'm dreading him turning 40lbs since they have an EB and I'm not able to say much to them about carseats at all... )

Anyways, I can only imagine the concern and stress knowing that your nice/nephew were being transported like that regularly.

So I'm wondering now if the seatbelt law is exempt in taxi's here. I'll have to email another AB tech and ask her unless she's this thread first. :thumbsup:
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Yep. And at the time the youngest was MAYBE three. It was before Joy was born and I would have her RF in our RA when she rode with me.
 

The Bjorns

New member
I'm just picturing my 7 mo old even fitting between me and the steering wheel. Not enough room and she'd grab at the wheel and play. When we're out and about and we need to nurse I find a nice parking lot with shade in an out of the way corner and I switch to the passenger seat. More room and then I can talk easier to my 4 yr old in the back (behind the driver).

What was this woman thinking???? Now I have to go do a search to see if I can find anything on her as an update because I'm just dying to know what happened to the psycho nut case.
 

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