Sasha has outgrown his full child safety seat. He's moved up to the booster seat.
Everything we've read says the safest place to put the child is in the center of the back seat. However, the center does not have a shoulder harness--a requirement for the booster chair. So now we get to move him to one of the side seats.
The question is, which side is safest.
One of us says the passenger side is safer. First, if only one of us is driving, we can handle any issues (dropped toys, spilt drinks, tissue needs) by reaching back relatively safely. However if he is directly behind us, that is not doable. The second thing is that any accidents occuring on that side of the car are either side impact or hitting things at speed, but not hitting things speeding at us.
The other things that there are more likely to be accidents on that side of the car and the driver's side is statistacally safer.
posted
I have always kept the booster behind me. I rarely have a second adult with me that could handle drops, etc., so those just have to wait until I can pull over to the side of the road safely. I do not reach behind me while the car is in drive because I've seen too many situations (and been the passenger in a couple) where the driver reaches around and swerves out of their lane. As they make the stretch, their body shifts and they tend to bring the steering wheel with them.
but the bigger logic in my mind concerned the potential for an emergency evacuation. I figure that if I need to get us out in a hurry, I can more quickly and easily get the kid out of the booster that's behind me than to have to walk/run around the car to get her out the other side. Fortunately, I've never had to actually test that theory.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I'd say behind the driver so that you are not tempted to try to handle spills or droped things while driving...since it would be impossible to reach.
Reaching behind you is a bad idea. Even if you do it 1000 times without problems, there will always be that one time where you swerve.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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OK. I understand, reaching behind not good idea.
I also understand the idea of exiting the vehicle in an emergency, but Sasha can and does open his own door. Isn't it better for him to leave in an emergency out the passenger side, than out the driver's side which may be in traffic?
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I could find no study that gives the necessary data to judge the differential safety of right-side or left-side seating positions in the rear seat.
Thinking about it, there are probably too many variables to contend with, but it does give me an idea for a study. Using data from fatal crashes, we could look at proportion of side impact crashes on the R or L side and see whether this is slightly higher prevalence. Then, we can also look at survivability for rear seat passengers seated on the impact or non-impact side of vehicles.
Here's what I suspect we'll see:
Impact side versus non-impact side has a big effect.
Side of impact (R/L) is almost equally balanced in fatal crashes.
I suspect that latter is true because I'm betting most of those fatal side impact crashes are intersection crashes in places where sufficient speed of impact is even possible. Given that, we're really probably talking a lot of crashes at rural intersections at any time of day and a fair number at urban intersections during periods of low volume.
The chances of being hit by someone running the intersection at speed are probably just as bad coming from either side.
My advice is that if you have other considerations that make you worry less, go with those. If you feel better knowing that in a pinch you could reach your kid easily. Or, if you like the idea of him riding on the side closest to the curb in case he does open the door (um...not using child locks?) then go with that.
Heck, if it's more convenient for you to get the kid out from one side or the other, go with that.
People with 2 children in booster seats need not fear. Having to choose which child goes where in the back seat isn't a "Sophie's choice" situation. It doesn't mean you love one of them any less.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
In regards to the chances of side impact at intersections, I would hypothesize that the driver's side gets hit more often. If a driver is going straight through the intersection or making a left turn, the car can be hit on either side, but when a car turns right, it can only be hit on the driver's side. Therefore, at every intersection the driver's side has three chances of being hit, whereas the passenger side only has 2 chances.
Posts: 264 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I don't know what size car you have, Dan, or particular booster seat size, but you can get the booster seat that still has it's own straps for the child, and the seat belt attachment in the back of the booster seat, and then double seat belt the seat in the center back of the car using both right and left belts in a criss-cross pattern.
In my then 1980 Toyota Tercel, the back seat was small enough that the adult belts actually were able to go through the back of the booster seat in a criss-cross pattern and attach to the opposing sides seat belt attachment.
Okay, Bob! Now -- if there is anything awful in this, please say so! It worked for Nathan and me just fine, but with my lack of engineering know-how, there might be some not-so-good thing about this!
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:I also understand the idea of exiting the vehicle in an emergency, but Sasha can and does open his own door. Isn't it better for him to leave in an emergency out the passenger side, than out the driver's side which may be in traffic?
What about when he's asleep? <ducking and running>
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by enochville: In regards to the chances of side impact at intersections, I would hypothesize that the driver's side gets hit more often. If a driver is going straight through the intersection or making a left turn, the car can be hit on either side, but when a car turns right, it can only be hit on the driver's side. Therefore, at every intersection the driver's side has three chances of being hit, whereas the passenger side only has 2 chances.
But a car coming from the driver's side at an intersection of two two-way roads will be visible for a greater amount of time, allowing a greater chance of evasive action.
I have no idea which effect has a greater impact (if any), and I don't think we can tell without a statistical study.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I'm having a little trouble picturing the set up, but if I have it correct, the booster seat you were using had it's own built-in belts, and you were using the car's belts only to hold the booster seat in place?
When you say criss-cross pattern, were you simply extending those belts to the farther side of the car from where their normal attachment point was?
Here's my concern. Was there ANY give at all in this arrangment? If you got some real leverage could you pull the seat forward or slide it side to side, or twist it?
If so, then the arrangement was no good.
I would treat it just like a regular child seat, really. If that seat (or booster) isn't firmly attached to the car, then in a crash it's going to move around. Any movement is bad.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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The booster seat had it's own built-in harness for the child. The back of the booster seat was where you put the adult seatbelt through. I just stuck the booster seat in the middle and used both the right and left side adult belts to secure the booster seat.
And, nope -- no give at all. No forward or side to side -- whereas it did both those things when it was just on the right or left hand side. I thought it was a much more secure arrangement.
I imagine that because I was in a smaller car, this worked, since there was less seat to stretch the adult belts across.
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I doubt you'd get the NHTSA seal of approval, but if you noticed movement when you put the seat in the "normal" way, then no movement with this arrangement, I can't really fault it.
Plus, was the kid in the center of the back seat this way?
If so, that's actually better than on either side, if you can make it work.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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Heh. We get to play "securely fit two child safety seats in the back of a Corolla" right now.
Neither one can go in the middle. Each seat takes up about 1 1/4 seats' worth of space, and they both use the LATCH system. So one is on one side, one is on the other.
When we have another kid, we're gonna have to get a bigger car.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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None of my kids sit in the middle, because if they did they'd be too close together and fights would ensue.
We have two rows of seating behind me and two kids each on a row - with the middle seat left empty. Everybody is in a booster eat except Natalie, and let me tell you, telling an eight year old she still needs a booster seat is no mean feat. According to the guidelines, however, Emily isn't tall enough to be in a regular safety belt. Excuse me, occupant restraint system.
Bob, my van has side impact air bags, how does that figure into the safety equation?
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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From what I've seen so far, side impact airbags, with properly restrained occupants of any age/size are working out great.
I haven't heard any concerns about them from actual experience yet at any rate.
the booster seat for an 8 year old is kind of odd to me too. There used to be belt tensioners that were getting good reviews, and suddenly all anyone will consider is booster seats. I personally wonder how practical it is. A lot of kids will just rebel, I would think. A lot of parents too.
And it's just not practical on things like field trips either, whereas the belt adjuster things were easily portable.
The child injury folks take this stuff pretty seriously though. I haven't looked specifically at the data for kids just below their their size threshold recommendations, though. And I've never actually seend data for belt tensioners/adjusters performance in actual crashes.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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Bob, it must be a conspiracy - the booster seat manufacturers are manipulating us!
Although, it's a new restraint law in Alabama, they must be in a booster seat until they meet the guidelines for an adult seat belt. Of course, my main concern is safety, not whether or not I'll get a ticket, but I do wonder why so much emphasis on this when we still put 40 kids in a school bus with no belts at all.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote: Plus, was the kid in the center of the back seat this way?
If so, that's actually better than on either side, if you can make it work.
When we were shopping for a minivan, one of the things that sold us on the Mazda MPV was that one of the second row seats slides sideways. You just pull the seat over to the door to put the little guy in and then slide it back over to the middle.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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My carseats' instructions both say to disable side impact airbags if using the seat in the side seat... At least, I think they do. But my kids are a lot younger.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz: People with 2 children in booster seats need not fear. Having to choose which child goes where in the back seat isn't a "Sophie's choice" situation. It doesn't mean you love one of them any less.
My kids are eight and they still ride in boosters--and they will for the foreseeable future. They have never complained; it just doesn't seem to have occurred to them that there is a choice. On those rare occasions where booster seats are not easily available, such as rental cars or when one of us drops off and the other picks up, we just don't use them and don't stress about it--since they are, after all, eight.
Anecdotally speaking, every side-impact collision I have ever had has been on my passenger side. Furthermore, every near miss Cor and I have had has also been on the passenger side. Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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