Is it safe to hold a child in your arms or on your lap in the backseat??

Question

Now, before you all bite my head off, I need answers to assist me with a situation/arguement that I'm having with my sister in law at the moment, who has been holding her 6 month old daughter in her arms in the backseat, and claims that this safe. I've told her time and time again that it's not, and that if she is in a crash, that the child will be ripped from her arms and thrown about the car, or that she will slam into the back of the seat as she doesn't buckle up either. She has also occasionally done this in the front. Please help me with answers from independent parties to convince her to restrain her daughter. If you have details where I could find footyage of what happens to unrestrained passengers on crashes on line, that would also be great. Thank you

Answer 1

It's about force. It's perfectly concievable for an accident to subject victims to a force of 40G or more. That means that a 15 pound baby would seem to weigh 600 pounds. I seriously doubt your sister in law can lift 600 pounds, not to mention, the force is applied almost instantaneously, as soon as the accident occurs. She won't be anticiapting the impact and the baby will be out of her arms before she knew what happened.

Buy her a car seat for the baby if she won't do it. If she won't use it, call the police next time she's on her way over. Let's see what they think.

And SHAME ON THE DRIVER FOR PUTTING THAT BABY AT RISK!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

it is never safe to hold any child in your arms anywhere in a moving vehicle. The force on everything in the vehicle should you have a wreck is much much more than you ever could hold when that child is pulled on in a wreck. The child would probably be killed and thrown from the car as the raised position on your lap would put them at a higher risk of being thrown over the front seat and either thru or into the windshield in a frontal collision. Here is a video showing a car crash with children in the back seat.

Answer 3

Of course it's not safe, for the reasons you've just described. And if your very bright sister-in-law is unrestrained in the car, then her child would be even less protected in the event of an accident, since she would be in the arms of a person who is getting tossed around inside the car, or getting launched through the windshield.
But more likely, your sister-in-law would not have the presence of mind to continue holding the child if an accident happened. More likely the shock and force of an impact would cause her to let go. If her way is so safe, why do some states require parents to put their children in carseats?
She is seriously, seriously endangering the life of her child. I am hoping some trauma professionals will write in here about their experiences of telling parents the fate of the children they didn't buckle in or put in a carseat after a crash. Some of those stories are just horrific, and if they don't convince her that she needs a carseat, then she is a terrible mother.

Answer 4

Neither of these options is good, nor are they legal. The best way to describe what would happen is that upon collision your sister-in-law's weight would crush the child between her and the front seat. Also the child could be thrown around in the rear portion of the car or at worst (if she's sitting in the middle) the baby could be forcefully ejected through the front and or rear window.

Answer 5

I used to install carseats for the police department.

Tell her to sit in the back seat of a car, holding an object the same weight as her child. then have someone drive the car at 35 mph, running it into a wall. Then ask her if she was able to old on to the object.

Tell her she is ignorant, selfish and a bad parent, and doing it is illegal. Then the next time she does it, tell the cops where they can find her.

For more info see the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration guidelines.

Answer 6

it's never safe. just explain it to her like this:
can she catch a 400 lbs object that is dropped from a six story roof?
when a car is in an accident, forces are multiplied many time over and the weight of an object goes up exponentially. she would not be able to hold her child if she was in an accident. her child would effectively weigh many times as much as she does, due to her mass continuing to travel with the applied inertia.
so...her child would become a moving object in a suddenly stopped object.
impossible to hold onto something, or someone, in this type of situation for anything over 5 miles per hour.

Answer 7

If after pointing out the obvious , she continues to endanger her child's life then she has psychiatric problems .
Reason is Not working and apparently she does not love her child enough to insure their safety .
Time to have the police make a stop and ticket her .
Perhaps a big court fine will snap her frozen brain into reality .

AND , I believe , that you as a driver , have the legal responsibility to refuse to transport her if she insists on endangering the child .
If the child is Not properly seated , tell her to call a cab . I do believe , YOU could be ticketed if you are the driver .

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Answer 8

she must not love the child to much if she is so careless about its safety.if it is your car refuse to move until baby is in proper seat.she is also endangering whoever sits in front of her because in a crash she will be thrown into them.with the childs safety in question i wuold call police next time i saw her do that.someone has to look out for the baby

Answer 9

Its just common sense -
All kids / passengers need to be buckled.

Kid is safer being laid on the floor than in moms lap. In an accident, she would cruch/kill the child.

Anyone so dumb won't be swayed by videos on the internet.

Answer 10

The adult's body will act like a launcher for the kid's body and they'll BOTH be in trouble.