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One thing I've wondered is how people deal with car seats with Uber/Lyft/Taxi's. Do they carry their own with them and take the time to install it and uninstall

by j2bax 9y ago

One thing I've wondered is how people deal with car seats with Uber/Lyft/Taxi's. Do they carry their own with them and take the time to install it and uninstall it? Do you just take the bus and not worry about a car seat?

jacquesm 9y ago
Taxi's are usually exempt, Uber will provide a car seat for a surcharge of $10 in some locations, not sure about Lyft.
- throwaway1X2 9y ago
  > Taxi's are usually exempt From local laws. From physical laws they are not. As a kid long time ago, I was sitting in a Fiat 124 when a bus driver wasn't paying attention to the road ahead and hit the stationary car on intersection in full city speed, thankfully it was direct hit from behind and there was nothing in front of the car, so there were no serious and only some very light injuries, but it was ugly. But I cannot image having a kid sitting freely in a lap nowadays just because the car in question is exempt from regulations. There doesn't even have to be a collision, emergency braking (either human or autonomous) is enough to throw the kid off against the car interior and sustain injuries (yep, had that too in the old no-rear-seat-belt-times when an ambulance without siren appeared oncoming wrong way, almost bit my tongue off). Don't use restraint systems just when they are required by regulations. And especially in nowadays tenfold traffic.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    > From local laws. From physical laws they are not. Absolutely, but I think the context was clearly indicating that we were talking about human laws, not physical laws.
    - rainbowmverse 9y ago
      I assumed the person you replied to (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16163259 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16163259) was asking for safety reasons. Your reply was the first mention of law.
simulate 9y ago
When your kids are a bit older you can use an inflatable seat like this: https://www.bubblebum.co/us/ https://www.bubblebum.co/us/ Easy to carry in a backpack.
lhorie 9y ago
We moved cross-country and didn't have our car for a few weeks. For the few uber trips we took during that time, we just YOLO'd: had the kids (5 and 3) wear normal seatbelts, but with the chest strap going under their arms rather than over their neck. They also travelled to/from airport without car seats. In my experience, drivers are generally a _lot_ more careful when there are kids in the car, compared to, say, a pool driver at rush hour.
- brianwawok 9y ago
  That's cool, let's risk the kids life to save carrying around a pesky car-seat. May as well smoke with them in the car too. * actual carseat requirements vary by state, the laws seem to be at: http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/child-passenger-safety/ http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/child-passenger-safety/
  - ryanwaggoner 9y ago
    Car seats aren’t magic. They don’t eliminate risk, they reduce it. Much safer is to never drive the kids in a car at all. And if you do, never on the highway and only in the largest vehicle money can buy. But that’s not how life works. We all risk our lives and those of our kids every day, for convenience, life experience, laziness, etc. You should be aware of the risks and then pick the place on the risk / reward curve that you can live with.
gopalv 9y ago
> Do they carry their own with them and take the time to install it and uninstall it? Yeah, it is possible to do this without much effort, if the car-seat has a seatbelt strap in the base and the stroller can carry the car-seat around instead of being held in the hand. I had no car for the first eight months, with my child in SF. The Lyft plus generally has enough space to stow the stroller and the kid wasn't heavy enough to hurt myself by picking up the carseat with the baby in it. However, once day-care starts, it gets pretty inconvenient to use a taxi every day.
OmarIsmail 9y ago
https://ridesafertravelvest.com/ https://ridesafertravelvest.com/ Not affiliated with this company but own one and am happy with it. Only for kids 3+.
theflork 9y ago
Lyft has a car-seat option

by j2bax 9y ago

jacquesm 9y ago

Taxi's are usually exempt, Uber will provide a car seat for a surcharge of $10 in some locations, not sure about Lyft.

throwaway1X2 9y ago
> Taxi's are usually exempt From local laws. From physical laws they are not. As a kid long time ago, I was sitting in a Fiat 124 when a bus driver wasn't paying attention to the road ahead and hit the stationary car on intersection in full city speed, thankfully it was direct hit from behind and there was nothing in front of the car, so there were no serious and only some very light injuries, but it was ugly. But I cannot image having a kid sitting freely in a lap nowadays just because the car in question is exempt from regulations. There doesn't even have to be a collision, emergency braking (either human or autonomous) is enough to throw the kid off against the car interior and sustain injuries (yep, had that too in the old no-rear-seat-belt-times when an ambulance without siren appeared oncoming wrong way, almost bit my tongue off). Don't use restraint systems just when they are required by regulations. And especially in nowadays tenfold traffic.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  > From local laws. From physical laws they are not. Absolutely, but I think the context was clearly indicating that we were talking about human laws, not physical laws.
  - rainbowmverse 9y ago
    I assumed the person you replied to (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16163259 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16163259) was asking for safety reasons. Your reply was the first mention of law.

simulate 9y ago

When your kids are a bit older you can use an inflatable seat like this: https://www.bubblebum.co/us/ https://www.bubblebum.co/us/ Easy to carry in a backpack.

lhorie 9y ago

We moved cross-country and didn't have our car for a few weeks. For the few uber trips we took during that time, we just YOLO'd: had the kids (5 and 3) wear normal seatbelts, but with the chest strap going under their arms rather than over their neck. They also travelled to/from airport without car seats. In my experience, drivers are generally a _lot_ more careful when there are kids in the car, compared to, say, a pool driver at rush hour.

brianwawok 9y ago
That's cool, let's risk the kids life to save carrying around a pesky car-seat. May as well smoke with them in the car too. * actual carseat requirements vary by state, the laws seem to be at: http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/child-passenger-safety/ http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/child-passenger-safety/
- ryanwaggoner 9y ago
  Car seats aren’t magic. They don’t eliminate risk, they reduce it. Much safer is to never drive the kids in a car at all. And if you do, never on the highway and only in the largest vehicle money can buy. But that’s not how life works. We all risk our lives and those of our kids every day, for convenience, life experience, laziness, etc. You should be aware of the risks and then pick the place on the risk / reward curve that you can live with.

gopalv 9y ago

> Do they carry their own with them and take the time to install it and uninstall it? Yeah, it is possible to do this without much effort, if the car-seat has a seatbelt strap in the base and the stroller can carry the car-seat around instead of being held in the hand. I had no car for the first eight months, with my child in SF. The Lyft plus generally has enough space to stow the stroller and the kid wasn't heavy enough to hurt myself by picking up the carseat with the baby in it. However, once day-care starts, it gets pretty inconvenient to use a taxi every day.

OmarIsmail 9y ago

https://ridesafertravelvest.com/ https://ridesafertravelvest.com/ Not affiliated with this company but own one and am happy with it. Only for kids 3+.

theflork 9y ago

Lyft has a car-seat option