Carry child in lap

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viz06

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Just to enlighten myself, Is it legal to carry child in your lap on the rear seat, provided the adult and child are restrained using the same seat belt. If no, then why are cab's allowed to do that.
 
Don't know about legal situation but if there was an accident in that situation the weight of the adult would do untold damage to the child as it would be crushed between the seat belt and adult.
 
The practice of carrying unrestrained children is illegal for all cars with the exception of taxis.

However, the practice is unsafe regardless of whether the car is a taxi.
 
No, it is not legal to carry a child on your lap, even if both adult and child are strapped in. Taxi drivers have an exemption due to the impracticality of carrying the correct seat for every child, according to the RSA website:

Why is there an exemption for taxis?
Child restraints come in several weight classes and it is unreasonable to expect that taxis, hackneys and limousines would always have the appropriate child restraint available.
 
Staples said:
The practice of carrying unrestrained children is illegal for all cars with the exception of taxis.
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I'm not sure that this is entirely true. It depends how many kids you have in the car. I copied this from citizensinformation.ie . .

The requirement in relation to rear seats in cars takes account of larger families in the following way - where 3 or more children under the age of 15 are travelling in a car, the requirement to wear a safety belt or use an appropriate child restraint is complied with, in respect of the rear seat, if every reasonable effort is made to buckle in as many of the rear seat passengers as possible. No doubling up on a front seat is permissible but if, for example, 4 children occupy a rear bench seat designed for 3 adults, it would not be possible for all 4 to be buckled in unless the vehicle has been modified. While it is not unreasonable for a vehicle owner to make such a modification, it might, perhaps, be considered unreasonable for the law to expect that such a modification would have been carried out in every case where a family of 2 adults and 4 children use a standard family car.
 
michaelm said:
I'm not sure that this is entirely true. It depends how many kids you have in the car. I copied this from citizensinformation.ie . .

The requirement in relation to rear seats in cars takes account of larger families in the following way - where 3 or more children under the age of 15 are travelling in a car, the requirement to wear a safety belt or use an appropriate child restraint is complied with, in respect of the rear seat, if every reasonable effort is made to buckle in as many of the rear seat passengers as possible. No doubling up on a front seat is permissible but if, for example, 4 children occupy a rear bench seat designed for 3 adults, it would not be possible for all 4 to be buckled in unless the vehicle has been modified. While it is not unreasonable for a vehicle owner to make such a modification, it might, perhaps, be considered unreasonable for the law to expect that such a modification would have been carried out in every case where a family of 2 adults and 4 children use a standard family car.
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Regardless of the legalities, the laws of physics continue to apply and unrestrained children are always vulnerable.

The use of taxis for children is a trade off between safety and convenience that, although legal, isn't necessarily comfortable.
 
it's illigal do to it, only if you are using a Taxi or bus, but the child should have their own seat belt...
 
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