carseats a bust?
An article by the Freakonomics guys in yesterday's Times claims that carseats are actually no safer than seatbelts for kids over two. On their blog, they cite other studies with the same findings. Didn't New York law just change to make carseats mandatory up to age seven or something? Is this guy off base, or are we being duped? Regardless of how true his thesis may be, the following quote rings mega-true to me, if not all parents who have had countless hours and dollars siphoned into the carseat nation:
"Considering that Americans spend a few hundred million dollars annually on complicated contraptions that may not add much lifesaving value, how much better off might we be if that money was spent to make existing seat belts fit children? Some automakers do in fact make integrated child seats (in which, for example, the car's seat back flips down for the child to sit on); other solutions might include lap-and-shoulder belts that vertically adjust to fit children, or even a built-in five-point harness."
I'm sayin'. Start designing some shit so we can stop schlepping and strapping... especially if it's not doing us any good.
in baby
comments
It is so true! I can't believe how much stress and money goes into all these contraptions, not to mention the amount of precious family time (and social time) we spend talking about one damn car seat vs another (and the $200 "solutions" to all these problems from One Step Ahead!) Get the kid seatbelts already. I agree. (I bet VW is the first to do it).
comment by Anonymous at July 15, 2005 8:56 AM
Doesn't volvo have some kind of built in carseat in a minivan or something?
comment by Anonymous at July 15, 2005 11:17 AM
I loved that article, so fascinating. I think those guys are great.
comment by Andrea at August 4, 2005 1:54 PM
