Taxis and car seats

You can borrow a baby car seat from the YWCA for a nominal fee - something like $10 a day. That is what we did when bringing our baby home from hospital. Easy, safe and inexpensive.
 
Aquarian said:
What do people do about minibuses? Or do you just avoid them altogether?
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Haven't seen any babies on minibuses...have seen them in double decker buses though...in the ergo but perhaps the stops are only a short distance away. I never used a baby car seat when traveling on taxi, have ones for my own car...just too much if a hassle for me since I have multiple kids and getting one out would require the other to wait Patiently
100% of the time which is very challenging,,,,
 
Of course, people do take risks, my point is I don't agree that the people are good at calculating/assessing the risks correctly. In this case, the stakes are too high: Even though the probability of an accident is very low, you face an almost certain death of your kid versus the inconvenience of carrying around car seats, a few nagging taxi drivers etc. No matter which probability you attribute to an accident, the expected loss should outweigh the cost of getting a car seat. The main reason why many countries do have mandatory seat belt laws is because people are not good at (or simply don't bother) calculating risks correctly.
 
qwert12 said:
Of course, people do take risks, my point is I don't agree that the people are good at calculating/assessing the risks correctly.
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Indeed. I can find hundreds and thousands of cases where parents, due to their mistaken beliefs over react in all sorts of ways. Perfect example are parents who are terrified of paedos.

In this case, the stakes are too high: Even though the probability of an accident is very low, you face an almost certain death of your kid
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You are saying any accident, no matter how probable == almost certain death. Wow, do you have any statistics to back that up? It sounds like a paranoid sound byte to tug at the heartstrings of parents, devised by a well meaning adman.

No matter which probability you attribute to an accident, the expected loss should outweigh the cost of getting a car seat.
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Now you are suggesting we completely ignore the probability of an accident and just assume it will happen. Furthermore, when it does happen, you will have a death. If thats not a perfect example of incorrect assessment I dont know what is.

The main reason why many countries do have mandatory seat belt laws is because people are not good at (or simply don't bother) calculating risks correctly.
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Vast majority of countries that have mandatory laws are countries with car cultures where babies end up spending huge number of hours in cars travelling in high speeds. To equate the risk associated with that and compare it equally with a new couple taking their baby home for the first time, who are going to be in a slow taxi for a very short amount of time is misguided. Alas, this just goes back to proving your point, where you stated:
Of course, people do take risks, my point is I don't agree that the people are good at calculating/assessing the risks correctly.
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Not taking sides either way, but on the calculated risk bit, I would put in that the harm of not using a car seat can be quite great, even at slow speed and close to home. A close friend's son, 3 years old, was in a taxi collision with their helper (who was also not belted) over this summer on Repulse bay road. The crash was with a sedan, which rear ended the cab they were in (the cab had stopped suddenly because it missed the driveway to their building). The child broke his collar bone, several fingers, several ribs and twisted his ankle and knee quite badly, in additidon to getting all bruised up (i also may be forgetting some of the ijnuries). He was thrown clear into the windscreen, which thankfully didnt brak through. Her helper broke (a small fracture really) her wrist, had a head injury (thankfully mild) and many bumps and bruises. The taxi driver, who was wearing a belt, walked away with no visible injury. They were hit by a car moving less than30kms/ hr as estimated by the police.

Anyway, on the rare event that something does happen when a small kid isn't properly secured, even at a relatively low speed, the kid can get seriously injured.

In comparison, we were in a similar crash (rear ended by a car that came barreling down Stubbs Road and didn't bother to slow down when the light turned red). Our baby was in a proper car seat and scared, had a small bruise on the chest but wasn't otherwise hurt. We were hit at a slightly slower speed than our friens's child, but there was quite a bit of damage to the car.

A final thought on the issue. In both cases, the crash was caused, at least in part, by another driver, which you cannot control. Both crashes were at relatively low speed. Both crashes occurred very close to home, and in our friend's case, in front of their driveway. Also, we all low that cab drives in HK aren't the best drivers around, and often do dumb, unpredictable things, like stopping in the middle of the road because they misse a turn.
 
Thanks NewDad, that's really useful to know. We'll do that to get the little one home the first time. After that, still not sure - probably just avoid taxis as much as possible. Not that we use them much now anyway.
 
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