AutoExpert

Putting kids in the front seat of cars...


Listen Later

Perhaps you are going to strap your young kid in the front seat of your ute. This is legal (in a single cab, as far as I know) - but is it safe?  

Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact

AutoExpert discount roadside assistance package: https://247roadservices.com.au/autoexpert/

Did you like this report? You can help support the channel, securely via PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=DSL9A3MWEMNBW&source=url

QUESTION:

"My son is 6 and has really taken to fishing and camping. I only have a cab-chassis Hilux, and have noticed that the RTA allows a child in the front passenger side, on a booster seat... What are your thoughts on this?" - Jamie Fitzgerald

In a perfect world, only adult-sized humans would ever sit in a front seat. Airbag deployment choreography is kinda precise, and brutal.   Airbags deploy at brutal speed and their spatial movement assumes an adult human will be doing the interacting. Average six-year-olds are only 1-1.2 metres tall - and this dimensional deficit is a serious spanner in the works, vis-a-vis airbag interaction, which could lead to a poor outcome in a crash…  .And, Jamie here is probably driving a long way to go camping, fishing, get sunburned and find a death adder in his sleeping bag. All the fun outdoors stuff. And he’s probably driving at high speeds, too, like highway speeds, and also on imperfect roads - all of which amps up the risk of a high-mechanism collision.  On the flipside, modern Hiluxes are quite safe. And driving’s really not that dangerous. In the 12 months to September 2020, just 1107 people died on the roads - that’s 4.9 per cent down on the same period last year, and 9.1 per cent down for deaths over the past six months (thanks very much, COVID-19).  Injury rates on the road: roughly 40 to one. In other words, roughly 40 hospitalisations for every death, and about half those injuries are notionally ‘serious’ - meaning (in statistical terms) requiring more than one day in hospital. And, obviously some (I don’t have the data) result in lifelong disability - brain injuries and that kind of thing.  In a population of nearly 25 million, it’s hardly as if road trauma is out of control. Despite what the cops and the regulators and the media would have you believe, driving is actually quite safe. Especially if you do it responsibly and capably. But there’s never been a benign transport system - and there never will be.  Only 27 people aged from newborn to 16 died on the roads in the past six months, and they weren’t all in cars. Some would have been pedestrians. Being in a car is not all that dangerous for children - especially if your parents are responsible drivers who put you in the correct restraint.  If you drive responsibly, conservatively, and even better, if you get advanced driver training, and if you’re diligently monitoring the environment for hazards, such as approaching dickheads, and formulating numerous ‘plan Bs’ - and not fatigued, or texting, or whatever - then you'll have a nice time camping with your young son, with very little elevation of tangible risk.  In fact, when you think about all the things that can go wrong camping - all the poisonous reptiles and spiders, the blue-ringed octopus at the beach, the shark attacks, the falling out of a tree or down a cliff, the drowning … the trip there and back is likely to be the safest part of the whole Technicolor camping montage.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

AutoExpertBy John Cadogan

  • 4
  • 4
  • 4
  • 4
  • 4

4

6 ratings


More shows like AutoExpert

View all
Background Briefing by ABC listen

Background Briefing

75 Listeners

The Howie Games by LiSTNR

The Howie Games

446 Listeners

Rusty's Garage by LiSTNR

Rusty's Garage

72 Listeners

The V8 Sleuth Podcast by Motorsport Podcast Network

The V8 Sleuth Podcast

39 Listeners

Full Credit to the Noise by Speedcafe.com

Full Credit to the Noise

25 Listeners

CarExpert.com.au by CarExpert.com.au

CarExpert.com.au

3 Listeners

AFL Daily by AFL

AFL Daily

61 Listeners

The Money Café with Alan Kohler by Intelligent Investor

The Money Café with Alan Kohler

36 Listeners

The Driver's Show by Paul Maric and Gordie Waters

The Driver's Show

2 Listeners

Bizarre with Mick Molloy and Titus O’Reily by Sport Bizarre

Bizarre with Mick Molloy and Titus O’Reily

68 Listeners

Chanticleer by Australian Financial Review

Chanticleer

21 Listeners

The Fin by Australian Financial Review

The Fin

14 Listeners

Neil Mitchell Asks Why by 9Podcasts

Neil Mitchell Asks Why

13 Listeners

The ReDriven Podcast by The ReDriven Podcast

The ReDriven Podcast

3 Listeners

Apex Hunters United by apexhuntersunited

Apex Hunters United

34 Listeners