How long did you rear face your child's carseat?

[princessmom29]

Agree with all of this, especially being nervous about out of town trips. And 15-passenger vans? We STILL won't let DD go on an out of town trip in one of those, at age 11!

Why on earth not? It is MUCH safer than a passenger car if everyone is in aseat belt. There is so much less room between the seats, and so much more between them and the outside. I would be much more comfortable with that versus a passenger car.

 

[tlbwriter]

Why on earth not? It is MUCH safer than a passenger car if everyone is in aseat belt. There is so much less room between the seats, and so much more between them and the outside. I would be much more comfortable with that versus a passenger car.

Are you referring to my comment about buses or vans?

Buses, I'm okay with. Statistically they are safer than cars, but a large part of that is because they get into fewer crashes, for all the reasons Bren's Mom listed. I still worry a little more about them at highway speed, but not enough to keep my kid off a bus.

15-passenger vans, on the other hand, are a well-known rollover hazard, especially when the drivers are not very experienced with that particular vehicle (you can drive a car for 20 years but it will not necessarily prepare you well to drive a 15-passenger van). You can read more here:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/problems/studies/15PassVans/15-PassengerVanConsumerPiece.pdf

http://www.citizen.org/autosafety/passengervan/ (several links at the bottom for more info)

 

[princessmom29]

Are you referring to my comment about buses or vans?

Buses, I'm okay with. Statistically they are safer than cars, but a large part of that is because they get into fewer crashes, for all the reasons Bren's Mom listed. I still worry a little more about them at highway speed, but not enough to keep my kid off a bus.

15-passenger vans, on the other hand, are a well-known rollover hazard, especially when the drivers are not very experienced with that particular vehicle (you can drive a car for 20 years but it will not necessarily prepare you well to drive a 15-passenger van). You can read more here:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/problems/studies/15PassVans/15-PassengerVanConsumerPiece.pdf

http://www.citizen.org/autosafety/passengervan/ (several links at the bottom for more info)

All this says is that they are more prone to rollover, well that is agiven, but have you looked at actual injury stats. The last time I did, 4 years ago when DD started at a daycare that had one, everything I found said that while they are prone to rollover, that fewer occupants were injured when compared to similar accidents involving single family vehicles. The increased interior space and the fact that there were multiple seats acted essentially like the school bus, and coushioned the crash. I am going to look for that study and will post back if I find it.

ETA:
Here si a newer one that shows just how few injuries really result from 15 passenger van collision, fewer that 100 nationally in 2006, and 59% of those we unrestrained that is significantly less fatalities per vehicle on the road than single family cars:
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/810947.pdf

 

[jedijohn]

Gotta love "statistics". They can be used to prove just about anyone's point of view if you use the right sample population.

 

[NOTHINGLKAHOOSIERGRL]

DD is 19 months and weighs just about 22lbs and is almost 31 inches tall. She still rides rear facing as she is still very tiny for her age. To those who extend rear facing, how long did you rear face your child? She is in a Graco ComfortSport car seat which I believe goes to 30 lbs (maybe??) rear facing. We turned DS around right after his first birthday (he was much bigger then her) but we have read alot of research since then and have decided this is best for our family. Did you wait till the weight of the seat? Is the height a consideration for this? Did you turn at a certain age (say 2?)? Just curious how others handled this. Thanks!

With all of our boys we turned them around when they were a lilttle over 20 lbs. They loved that they could see out the front window instead of staring at the back of a seat.