A 3 year old in a taxi at Disney?

[tanyaandallie]

serious question here, I'm not trying to be Snarky or anything.
How is a Disney bus or the ME bus safer than a car? Why aren't buses required to use safety seats also?

What do all the people who live in big cities do when they take cabs? I have never seen anyone walking down a busy city street holding a toddler in one arm and a baby seat in the other.
Once again, not trying to be snippy, I am just curious.

Buses are a whole different beast. They are safer for many reasons. They are huge so a crash does not have the same effect as they do on car. They are also less likely to be involved in a crash b/c they are large, easily seen, travel the same route, etc. Statistically buses are much safer than a car.

I do not live in a big busy city so I cannot say what others who live in big cities do. I can tell you what I would do. I would not ride in a tax with a child without a carseat. Obviously there are emergency situations but imo getting to a dinner reservation is not an emergency.

 

[jodifla]

Buses are a whole different beast. They are safer for many reasons. They are huge so a crash does not have the same effect as they do on car. They are also less likely to be involved in a crash b/c they are large, easily seen, travel the same route, etc. Statistically buses are much safer than a car.

I do not live in a big busy city so I cannot say what others who live in big cities do. I can tell you what I would do. I would not ride in a tax with a child without a carseat. Obviously there are emergency situations but imo getting to a dinner reservation is not an emergency.

There are exceptions to every rule. We've been in countries where they didn't even have seat belts in the cabs....we just did what the natives did. Got in and took our ride.

Plenty of people were killed in bus crashes in the last few years. It's a cost effective move not to have seat belts on buses (as well as some type of crashes where belts would be problematic.)

There are kids riding in taxis without seatbelts every day in big cities....that's how the people get around there.

 

[mjkacmom]

There are exceptions to every rule. We've been in countries where they didn't even have seat belts in the cabs....we just did what the natives did. Got in and took our ride.

Plenty of people were killed in bus crashes in the last few years. It's a cost effective move not to have seat belts on buses (as well as some type of crashes where belts would be problematic.)

There are kids riding in taxis without seatbelts every day in big cities....that's how the people get around there.

I agree - I use carseats at home, but sometimes when we travel, it's not possible. For example, we took our kids to Chicago to visit my sister when my twins were 3, and took a lot of cabs to museums, and other sites, like the zoo. I don't know what we'd to with 2 carseats and a booster. My sister lived there for a few years with 3 kids under 4, and made use of cabs, and couldn't drag around carseats for all of them. For my friends who live in NYC with their kids, same thing.

 

[crisi]

Buses are a whole different beast. They are safer for many reasons. They are huge so a crash does not have the same effect as they do on car. They are also less likely to be involved in a crash b/c they are large, easily seen, travel the same route, etc. Statistically buses are much safer than a car.

I do not live in a big busy city so I cannot say what others who live in big cities do. I can tell you what I would do. I would not ride in a tax with a child without a carseat. Obviously there are emergency situations but imo getting to a dinner reservation is not an emergency.

That's sort of the issue with risk analysis and statistics in a nutshell.

My sister was severely injured in a bus accident. It doesn't make any difference what the population statistics are if YOU are the individual.

Likewise, it doesn't make any difference what the population statistics are if you and your kids exit the cab safely.

So you do a risk analysis - a casual in your head sort of quickie thing. People who work in dangerous industries tend to emotionally weight the risk of that thing happening to them higher (fireman are fire aware, policemen are crime aware) but don't necessarily weight other dangers with greater risk as significant as what they are familiar with. People who have had loved ones impacted by a low risk rate that higher than things with higher risk that hasn't affected anyone they know (I know a three year old who died in a bathtub - my kids were in elementary school before they took a bath alone and I think anyone who brings kids of a certain age to SAB is nuts - ok, that's judgmental - has a significantly different tolerance for drowning risk than I do).

My kid is past booster seats - but he skateboards...

 

[nicki.momof3]

serious question here, I'm not trying to be Snarky or anything.
How is a Disney bus or the ME bus safer than a car? Why aren't buses required to use safety seats also?

What do all the people who live in big cities do when they take cabs? I have never seen anyone walking down a busy city street holding a toddler in one arm and a baby seat in the other.
Once again, not trying to be snippy, I am just curious.

Totally agree - a bus is no different than a car. So all of you saying a bus is different are telling me that riding in a WDW bus (standing many time holding a child) is safer (no car seat) than riding (siting down) in a taxi with a chiuld belted into a lap belt?

Really, come one - most of you are just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. I am sure everyone posting they would NEVER are not 100% perfect about safety - relax and have fun on vacation.

A bus is just as dangerous as a taxi - more if standing sometime holding a child.

 

[all4fun]

A bus is just as dangerous as a taxi - more if standing sometime holding a child.

The bus is statistically less likely to be involved in a crash than a smaller passenger vehicle, which is what taxis are. But if you are standing, holding a child in a bus and it crashes, I don't think anyone would argue your chances of being injured are great. It's just that the bus is less likely to be in a crash in the first place.