Texas, as i'm sure other places has some crazy child seat laws now. So have you gotten any flack for taking the kiddos in the cars with you? when i was a kid ridding in the my dad's vette was the absolute most amazing thing ever, today i'm scared to take my son in it for fear of backlash and tickets. thoughts?
Why would you worry about flack or tickets when your child's safety is at risk. My god man worry about your children.
If they are in a Child seat who cares, thats more than any Kids for the last 100 years have had and there shouldn't be anything illegal about it. Little side story I had a lady go off on me when she saw me at a Walmart parking lot un buckling my 2 year old from her car seat in my 57 Dodge truck, and she said " how dare you are you stupid!..." and continued to rant on, I stopped her and said "whats wrong with it?" she said "you cant have your kids in the front seat!"....and i replied "well i have no back seat and do you even know why you are not supposed to have kids in the front seat of a car? hmm?" and she said while stuttering " Beca...use its..Not safe!" ... "Because of Airbags you retarded B*tch! does this look like it has Airbags?!" and I stared at her like she was the dumbest person I had ever met (Probably was) and she stomped off all pissed off. So you might get **** about it but Stand your ground and made sure you can take it. if its all hooked up safe then whats the problem? "because it doesnt have crumple zones on the frame"...Whatever...
I would never imagine putting my kid in a car without seat belts, however old cars with seat belts don't always have shoulder harnesses which all child seats now "require". so my apologies if i lead you down the wrong path. while certain risks are valid to fear, i'm under the personal opinion that riding around on the surface roads with my kid strapped in next to me is no less riskier than him riding his bike in the neighborhood. mark me down a careless parent if you will. in hind sight its amazing i'm still alive having spend so much time in that thing when i was a kid.
I have several models of Child seats and so do my hotrod buddies with kids and all of them give you the option for lap belts only, I have never heard of a law saying a car seat required shoulder belts. I did a search on the web with nothing stating that in any state either. Where did you hear this?
Been seen by the LAPD with my wife and 12-year old daughter in my truck. Didn't bat an eyelash. I have the lap belts, just need to install them. That's next on my list after I finish screwing with my O/T daily.
Really?,,Do everything in your power to take care of your children,,if you haven't installed seat belts or child restraints in your older cars or trucks you deserve a ticket! HRP
I don't use seat belts for myself (my issue with my car), but my p***engers do. Especially children and even then, no small children due to my T not having room for a child seat. But I'd really give the parent of a small child the evil eye, if they wanted me to drive around a child that small in a T Bucket.
I believe the OP is talking about the increased seatbelt laws in Texas, not advocating no protection whatsoever.
I would have to believe that you are 100% correct. Not long before we moved from Texas to Washington my then 8 year old was riding in the 48 with me and the truck had no seat belts at the time and I had to nail the brakes because someone ran out if front of me and his forehead hit the dash and left a dent in the dash that stayed there until I redid the truck four years later but was a constant reminder to me that I needed to have him properly secured in the seat. A year an a half after we moved up here my wife fell out of the 48 as we turned a corner and the door flew open while she was sitting sideways in the seat leaning back on the door as was her habit at the time. She still has the scars on her face and knee from that one and found out that she was pregnant with our now 33 year old daughter when they gave her a pregnancy test (at her request) while she was in the emergency room. The truck got seat belts that day that have been used ever since. Face it, if you are too damned worried about your car being "UNCOOL" because you installed proper seat belts and use a proper seat for the child who is riding in the vehicle then it is too damned cool for kids to ride in period. Let someone take a "safe" vehicle and follow along behind the "cool" car so you don't have to make it uncool with seat belts. I live in an area where some of the local "cultural background" groups don't believe that they need to follow the state laws about seat belts as they consider them "those guy's laws" and not their laws and every week there are one or two people ejected from an otherwise intact vehicle because they weren't properly belted in. The latest were two people who were in a four p***enger car with seven people in the car. One 20 something gal sitting on a guy's lap in the back seat got pitched out and killed along with someone else in the car.
Booster seats will work with a lap belt but the owners manual of the ones I have looked at say you must use a shoulder belt as well. There may be others I'm not aware of, that's part of why I posted this topic. And as correctly mentioned in the post above, I was in no way advocating going without restraint. Just trying to figure out how it's suppose to work with the current laws.
Okay, but what increase? Seat belts and child safety seats have been mandatory for years. They have increased enforcement for both safety and revenue, which seems to be a good thing. Having them in an old car is always a good thing. My experience in a wreck with my T is the bases for what "I" do in my situation. In a situation dealing with old cars that are usually exempt, it's up to the owner/driver to do what's right for his situation. And this is a subject that's beat to **** on this forum. So...
When I was sixteen, I came round a corner on a forestry road to meet a logging truck head on who was in my lane. My car WAS a 65 Vauxhaul Viva, luckily, as the car went under the truck, both doors on the car spit open and propelled me and Dave out, me over the bank, him onto the high side. If we had been wearing seat belts, we'd be dead or worse. Does that mean I don't wear them today? Absolutely I do, as do my p***engers, especially kids, however, they all get the same warning, "expect to be hurt if something bad happens, its a hot rod", don't be thinking it can't happen, there's a lot of stupid people on the road just waiting to crash into you. And yes, this comes up too often.
Simple answer is to drive your car to the local police department and take the seat with you,,,let them make a determination on how to approach the issue and stay within the letter of the law. HRP
True, but they keep bumping up the ages for certain seats. I think kids have to be in a booster until the age of 8 now. Kinda nuts; new cars keep getting safer, but the safety seats keep coming and don't always fit the best in older vehicles.
I drove my daughters (now 36) and my son (now 27) all over the road in the bucket when they were young, the girls 13 and son 4. The original builder of the car installed seat belts in it in 1969 not because of any law but because he was a racer and rodder and understood the importance of safety.
Booster seats are required for children of a certain height and under. <TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=700 align=center bgColor=#cdcdcd border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#cdcdcd colSpan=3>Child P***enger Safety Best Practice Recommendations</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#dedede vAlign=top width="16%">Phase 1 </TD><TD bgColor=#ededed vAlign=top width="17%">Rear-Facing Seats </TD><TD bgColor=#ffffff vAlign=top width="67%">Infants: Birth - 35 pounds. Rear-facing infant or rear-facing convertible safety seat as long as possible,up to the rear-facing height or weight limit of the seat. Properly install rear-facing in the back seat. </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD bgColor=#dedede>Phase 2 </TD><TD bgColor=#ededed>Forward-facing Seats </TD><TD bgColor=#ffffff>When children outgrow the rear-facing safety seat, they should ride in a forward-facing safety seat as long as possible, up to the upper height or weight limit (40 - 80 pounds) of the harnesses. Usually 4+ years old. Properly installed forward-facing in the back seat. NEVER turn forward-facing before 1 year old AND 20-22 pounds. </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD bgColor=#dedede>Phase 3 </TD><TD bgColor=#ededed>Booster Seats </TD><TD bgColor=#ffffff>After age 4 and 40+ pounds, children can ride in a booster seat with the adult lap and shoulder belt until the adult safety belt will fit them properly (usually when the child is 4'9" tall). MUST have a lap/shoulder belt to use a booster seat. </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD bgColor=#dedede>Phase 4 </TD><TD bgColor=#ededed>Adult Safety Belt </TD><TD bgColor=#ffffff>Once children outgrow their booster seat (usually at 4'9", 100 pounds) they can use the adult safety belt if it fits them properly. Lap portion low over the hips/tops of thighs and shoulder belt crosses the center of the shoulder and center of the chest. </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD bgColor=#ffffff colSpan=3>Children are better protected the longer they can stay in each phase. Keep children in each seat up to the maximum age/weight/height limits before moving to the next phase. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Around here the local fire department runs a clinic once or twice a year. You take your car to them and they inspect the installation of the car seat, restraining strap and belts. On my daughters 48 Chevy, they took out the car seat and then, prepared a few lengths of "pool noodle" to put under it to make it firmer. They went through everything and gave it there blessing...............and they also gave her a few compliments on her car and my grandson too! Check and see if there are clinics in your area.................best to have a second opinion on your kids safety........
I put seat belts in my Studebaker just so I could have my son ride with me. Although I've only taken him a few times, makes me nervous... usually we take the family car now that we have two sons. If it is an important car show, I'll drive separate and my wife will gladly drive the kids in her car.... I used to ride around with my Dad everywhere, he had a t-bucket, all kinds of rides... but that was in a real small town. "the world went and got itself in a big damn hurry"
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