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Yes. I'm 50, and grew up before the common use of car seats for children. Children of all ages would commonly ride in the front seat, or even in the back of p
by nkurz 5y ago
Yes. I'm 50, and grew up before the common use of car seats for children. Children of all ages would commonly ride in the front seat, or even in the back of pickup trucks. Even today, only about half the states have rules specifying that the carseats must be installed in the rear: https://saferide4kids.com/car-seat-laws-by-state/ https://saferide4kids.com/car-seat-laws-by-state/
As a fun anecdote, my father grew up prior to the time that most cars even came with factory seat belts. Before taking a family trip to Alaska in the 50's, his mother read about them and demanded that her husband install them in the station wagon before the trip. So he bought straps and buckles of some sort from a hardware store, and bolted them on so that all 6 kids would have "seatbelts" for the trip.
- maroonblazer 5y agoBut you're 50. I'm 55, and for the large majority of my life (and presumably smaller than yours) kids were relegated to the back seat.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoRemember getting stuck with the "hump" in the middle of the floor? I guess it was only a problem if you have more than one sibling and your parents had rear-wheel drive.
- aaron695 5y ago
- Infernal 5y agoMaybe state dependent? I’m not yet 40 and recall being excited that I could finally ride up front when I turned 3.
- darkerside 5y agoAt 3? You've got a damn good memory
- Infernal 5y agoOnly a handful of vignettes from 3-5 but the excitement of riding in the front seat was enough to cement that one.
- cgriswald 5y agoThese laws are regulated by the states and vary widely: Child Passenger Safety Laws in the United States, 1978–2010: Policy Diffusion in the Absence of Strong Federal Intervention https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3899584/#!po=1.08696 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3899584/#!po=1....
- raldi 5y agoSee also: the opening of The Simpsons
- darkerside 5y agoHmm, I know car seats weren't always as big a thing, but I think it's pretty rare these days for a 3 year old to be in the front seat. Am I the only one who would instinctively feel it was unsafe? I feel like this would have been obvious even before I had kids and was basically clueless about their safety.