bobandjess99
Senior Community Member
So..i was pondering this. We all know kids should be in the back if possible. And, in fact, some states laws actually include the requirement that all kids ride in the back, usually with some sort of clause about "unless all rear seats are occupied by other children".
BUT..I'm wondering about the legal and practical definitions and applications of "if possible" To what extent do you think this applies?
For example, we all know that in some vehicles, getting 3 across the back can be hard and/or require a very specific set of seats, sometimes very expensive seats.
So...lets say you want to transport 3 kids. (And, for the sake of the question, lets say that not transporting them isn't an option you are willing to choose. While some of us on this board might say "if i cant transport all the children optimally i simply wont drive them" I think we all know that only a very tiny fraction of the general population would even consider that option.)
And lets say your car is like mine, and has an atrocious backseat. 3 across *can* be done, but only with very specific seats, and only in certain confugurations.
What is the standard here? Not best practice, but like..on a practical everyday level. Does the standard for requiring children to be in the backseat "unless all rear seating positions are filled" apply if say, 2 of the 3 positions are filled, but yet you can NOT fit another seat in the 3rd spot? What about if there ARE certain configurations that *could* work, but they aren't the seats you have? What if the only seats that would work aren't seats you can afford? What if fitting the 3rd child back tyhere means that to get a configuration to work, you would have to reduce the safety of a different child, like if you had to turn a 18 month old FFing because the configuration only worked if the seats were FFing?
And to what level of exertion should a parent be required to go to to make all this happen? What if the seats needed to be changed around to make everything work? Is it reasonable to expect a parent to redo their seats once a month, twice a week, every other day?
I was thinking about this because my backseat is worthless and only a very select 3 acorss situations work in it. The seat that work in it are not my childrens primary seats, and would therefore require a complete uninstall of the primary seats, install of the configuration that works, then the uninstall of the 3-a configuration, then re-install of the primary seats.
Is it reaonable to expect someone to do that instead of just putting a kid in the front for a 5 minute ride because your child asks a friend over and you go to pick them up? And, even though I actually do HAVE some of the seats that make a workable 3-across, what if I didn't? would it be reasonable to require me to purchase new seats specifically for 3-acrosses? And I wondered, on the trip, if I were to be stopped for some reason, would a cop try to/be able to cite me for not putting the child in the back, since there was technically a seating position open, even though the amount of space that "seating positionj" provided was not even CLOSE to being enough to accomodate the childs car seat?
Anyway..just looking for what other people think. No need to spout the hardline carseat fanatic posiiotn..yes, of course, in a perfect world we would all have giant vehicles that could transport everyone in comfort, and be able to afford every carseat we wanted, or be able to just never drive, etc but I'm talking about real world practical applications here....
BUT..I'm wondering about the legal and practical definitions and applications of "if possible" To what extent do you think this applies?
For example, we all know that in some vehicles, getting 3 across the back can be hard and/or require a very specific set of seats, sometimes very expensive seats.
So...lets say you want to transport 3 kids. (And, for the sake of the question, lets say that not transporting them isn't an option you are willing to choose. While some of us on this board might say "if i cant transport all the children optimally i simply wont drive them" I think we all know that only a very tiny fraction of the general population would even consider that option.)
And lets say your car is like mine, and has an atrocious backseat. 3 across *can* be done, but only with very specific seats, and only in certain confugurations.
What is the standard here? Not best practice, but like..on a practical everyday level. Does the standard for requiring children to be in the backseat "unless all rear seating positions are filled" apply if say, 2 of the 3 positions are filled, but yet you can NOT fit another seat in the 3rd spot? What about if there ARE certain configurations that *could* work, but they aren't the seats you have? What if the only seats that would work aren't seats you can afford? What if fitting the 3rd child back tyhere means that to get a configuration to work, you would have to reduce the safety of a different child, like if you had to turn a 18 month old FFing because the configuration only worked if the seats were FFing?
And to what level of exertion should a parent be required to go to to make all this happen? What if the seats needed to be changed around to make everything work? Is it reasonable to expect a parent to redo their seats once a month, twice a week, every other day?
I was thinking about this because my backseat is worthless and only a very select 3 acorss situations work in it. The seat that work in it are not my childrens primary seats, and would therefore require a complete uninstall of the primary seats, install of the configuration that works, then the uninstall of the 3-a configuration, then re-install of the primary seats.
Is it reaonable to expect someone to do that instead of just putting a kid in the front for a 5 minute ride because your child asks a friend over and you go to pick them up? And, even though I actually do HAVE some of the seats that make a workable 3-across, what if I didn't? would it be reasonable to require me to purchase new seats specifically for 3-acrosses? And I wondered, on the trip, if I were to be stopped for some reason, would a cop try to/be able to cite me for not putting the child in the back, since there was technically a seating position open, even though the amount of space that "seating positionj" provided was not even CLOSE to being enough to accomodate the childs car seat?
Anyway..just looking for what other people think. No need to spout the hardline carseat fanatic posiiotn..yes, of course, in a perfect world we would all have giant vehicles that could transport everyone in comfort, and be able to afford every carseat we wanted, or be able to just never drive, etc but I'm talking about real world practical applications here....
