bradartigue wrote:I think for ordinary road use it's a terrible idea to use the back "seat" for passengers. A parade perhaps, or a slow drive around the neighborhood, but on a real road with speeds over 40MPH, you're inviting trouble.
I hear you. It's the slow drive around the neighbourhood that I'm thinking about.
Jay, I have to agree about that car seat.
It was sitting very high and without a roll cage would have been the first point of impact if the wheels were the wrong way up (
e.g. from a side impact causing a roll over)... Draw a straight line from the top of the windshield to the highest point of the trunk and anything over it is at risk (even slightly under it, given rear body deformation). Glad to hear your boy is now in the front getting proper attention from the ladies.
Thanks for all the replies, gents. I'm very aware of the Canadian and Ontario regulations regarding restraints. The kids are no longer in car seats (five point harnesses with the seat tethered to anchor points) but using adult belts, with the younger using a riser to get the shoulder belt positioned properly on a three-point setup (so it's not crossing her neck, but over a shoulder and chest). With lap belts they wouldn't use the riser/booster. The regulation at their age is that they wear belts according to what was original equipment in the car, just like anyone else.
Just to be totally clear, and at the risk of being verbose: If my kids are in the back, the idea is just for some short jaunts around the neighbourhood, most at 30mph or less. It's for a few drives in the lovely very old area of town in which we live, with a lot of mature trees and a nice, very long parkway that's only one lane each way with no passing, and very, very few intersections reducing the chance of collisions, with no stops or lights for miles (also nothing over 37.5mph, that's 60km/h round here). I'm not heading for expressways or boulevards with four lanes of traffic, or twisties, or cars turning ahead of us or racing past us.
If the kids are in the car it's just for slow, leisurely rides with very light traffic all going the same way at the same speed. You can
cruise it virtually on Google Maps it if like!! I'm trying not to protest too much, but just letting people know that I'm aware of the risks.
I'm trying
not to sound like a know-it-all, but I'm very aware of safety issues and am a cautious ([car] control freak?) by nature, having ridden various vintage motorbikes daily three seasons of the year, though I am about to give that up. In my younger days I did some track work with the PCA in a race-prepped 500+hp @ rear wheels fire breathing monster, so I know a bit of what's what, but I'm not overly-confident, either. Youthful exuberance has been tempered by middle-age, but I still know my way around a fast corner and what can happen even in the best of circumstances.
Life is unpredictable. I know all about that: My wife, at 42, was diagnosed last year with incurable cancer that has metastasized all over her body. There was no point to radiation or a mastectomy because things were already too far gone so ongoing chemo is part of palliative care. That said, she's doing amazingly well after 17 rounds of chemo (that probably would have killed a horse by now, but she's still going strong); most people can't wait for the end of the normal ten rounds, but she wants more and more -- there's no end in sight unless it stops being efficacious or the side effects outweigh the benefits. It's been a difficult year, to be sure, but we'll take what we can get! If things took a turn for the worse tomorrow I don't know if she'd still be here in four months; she could also live a few years if things continue to go well. Nobody knows, so we're just trying to enjoy the time together that we do have as a family. I love my wife more now than I did the day I married her because I've seen the true face of courage, and it's a lot more than I could muster in the same circumstances! Our family was also there to see her sister-in-law buried two weeks ago because of a brain tumour with a daughter between the ages of ours, so we are all-to-well acquainted with the frailty of life. Fortune can be a strumpet, for sure!
Sooo... the car is really for the two of us to enjoy some rides together this summer when my wife is feeling well. I'm also hoping to still get a smile on my face driving to work since I'm giving up the bike (can't risk getting seriously hurt any more!). I was picking a Fiat over an Alfa because I was hoping we might have the two girls in the back once in a while going around our quiet neighbourhood so we can all have a big smile on our face and make some good memories. They'd only fit for a summer or two anyways.
I'm a philosophy teacher - I have somewhat of a handle on the nature of ontology. Our family has been knocked around a bit, and we're knocking right back. Yes, I want to protect my kids, but I also want to make sure they enjoy a rich, full life and some good times and new experiences with their mum, who has had to curtail a lot of things with them because of risk of fractures and wanting to avoid yet more hospital stays. Nothing is without risk, it's getting the right balance that's the secret, imo.
I'm going to look at a car on Wednesday (though snow won't be gone until March/April!). Wish me luck!
Cheers,
phaetn
in a much safer Fiona 
