[tracilicious]

I think that enough people are non-chalant about carseats to the point that they would put a very small baby in a forward facing seat in the front seat that carseat laws and campaigns are necessary.

Babies don't have the same muscle control of their necks, making rear facing seats very very necessary. In a wreck a four month old in a forward facing carseat would suffer much more injury than an eighteen month old in the same seat in the same wreck. Since some parents might look at their six month old that can now sit up and crawl and assume incorrectly that they would be safe in a forward facing seat, I think education campaigns are a good thing.

The recommendation is rear facing until one year old and 20 lbs, and as long after that as possible. Rear facing carseats generally have a weight limit of around 25 pounds, so as long after that isn't very long.

I'm all for whatever keeps kids safer in cars. I think that we've made huge progress from the lap sitting that our parents did. Cars go faster and people drive more and there are more people on the road. We need these precautions. My kids carseats cost $350 a piece (the same Britax seats in the video) because they are the best out there. They far outperformed other carseats in all tests. It's a small price for me to pay for the extra safety. I hope the seats will never be put to the test, but if they are I'll be glad I have the seats I do. Plus, they will be in them until they are five or six, so it's a small cost per year.

As far as adults not having the same protection, I think that if companies offered it then some people would use it. It isn't profitable for them to do so though, so they don't. Plus, cars and seatbelts are designed for an adult frame. An adult is significantly safer in a car than a child just by being much bigger. Not going to the extra trouble for children's safety means that kids are much much less safer in a car designed for an adult.

And none of this stuff takes forever. It takes me all of 45 seconds to buckle each child into a carseat. What would you rather the alternative be?