Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate • Hacker News Board

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#241

Post by bobthepanda » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:23 AM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #224

bobthepanda wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone lives in an area where that is true, nor can everyone just afford to replace $20 helmets on a regular basis. Compulsory helmets just for cyclists is a bit arbitrary too, since pedestrians and car occupants would also benefit from helmets, and at least pedestrians are likely to encounter the same exact crash scenarios which cyclists encounter where helmets are necessary (e.g. pedestrians can also get hit…

I realize I'm privileged in that I live in a low-crime city, but seriously, who is going to steal a $20 helmet which will have a broken strap? It looks like new straps cost ~$8 on Amazon, so the helmet is worth at most $12. Which isn't nothing, but... unless you happen to need a helmet and the helmet just so happens to be the right size for your body, you'd need to sell it, and no one is going to pay full price for a…

That would imply that the people doing the stealing are thinking rationally and trying to maximize outcomes.

I've been in areas with large drug problems, and people steal weird things (and avoid stealing less weird things) all the time.

Also, generally speaking the more valuable things are the riskier they are. It's a lot easier to pawn some random bike helmet, but bikes have registration numbers, and you may need to enlist the help of a chop shop that's in on what you're doing.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#242

Post by xyzzyz » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:26 AM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #185

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the 80s people didn't care that much. An 80s van is still gonna beat an 80s car in terms of crash test results. And the bad results are only for the driver's legs. The kids in rows 2/3/4 are safe as can be

I have good memories of growing up in the 90s with a fullsize van as the family vehicle. The most 90s thing of all was probably my dad plugging an inverter into the cigarette lighter so that he could power a SNES and 10" TV on our 24-hour drive to Pennsylvania to pacify us kids. That was peak existence for young me.

> That was peak existence for young me.

Man, I felt shivers just reading this. So much 90s cool.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#243

Post by pandaman » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:26 AM UTC

ashtonkem wrote: post #77

kube-system wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not easy to fit three car seats in the back of seat of the average vehicle in the US. I bet this is not a hinderance in the rest of the world because many of those other places have either: 1. a lack of child seat laws 2. effective public transportation. It's not like Europe is full of A-segment cars with 3 car seats in the back.

The median vehicle in the US is fully capable of seating three child safe seats. Yes, if you get a Honda Civic you're going to struggle. But sales of sedans are absolutely swamped by SUVs and trucks. The best selling car in America by a long shot is the F-series pickup truck, with about 900,000 units sold. You can easily fit three child seats in it[0] Oh, the number two and number three best selling vehicles are the…

You assume any SUV is automatically the size of Suburban so you skipped over CR-V and RAV4, which should be just under the tucks in any best selling vehicles list? They do not have much more passenger room than a Civic (more headroom but the size and distance between the seats is basically the same). A "compact SUV" is a thing.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#244

Post by grumple » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:28 AM UTC

nethunters wrote: post #239

safetyengineer wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helmets work but after working in automotive safety, motorcycles are death traps. I can't emphasize this enough. They are no automobile, and are not comparable.

What other precautionary methods could help reduce mortality rates of motorcycles?

Build a car around them?

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#245

Post by bigmattystyles » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:29 AM UTC

lastofus wrote: post #214

bigmattystyles wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, how do you test this - as a system - effectively. The consequences of failure on a child seat are not like, say, a stand mixer. That being said, I suspect it has more to do with the manufacturer attempting to limit their liability window. It's wasteful right, but in a litigious world, I get it.

Start crash testing expired seats and compare results to new ones of the same make/model. They expire relatively quickly, so they would not be difficult to find. For example, our Graco Keyfit 30 expires after 6 years.

I think you’d have to mandate it legislatively though. There are no incentives for seat manufacturers to do this of their own volition. The quick expiration works in their favor on every front...

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#246

Post by analog31 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:32 AM UTC

bobthepanda wrote: post #132

sneak wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity: why do you ride without a helmet?

Helmets are big unwieldy things. They're not easy to carry, and are shaped such that even if you had a bag big enough for one, it would probably crowd out a lot of things that might also go in the bag (e.g. very few bags might hold a 15-in laptop and also a helmet) It is inconvenient to take spontaneous or quick bike rides if you have to lug a helmet around everywhere. Also, there is at least some debate about whethe…

The university of Bath study was barely scientific. The researcher was his own subject, and it has never been replicated. Yet it is now accepted as the Truth.

A vastly better way to study the issue would be to analyze video footage from roadways where there are both cars and bikes.

I suspect the greatest danger to cyclists is when the driver isn't paying attention at all, or is not controlling their vehicle, in which case I doubt there's a special mental circuit that triggers an unconscious behavioral response when it detects a helmet.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#247

Post by diebeforei485 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:35 AM UTC

Analemma_ wrote: post #96

blang wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

King county Washington[1]. [1] https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/violence-injury-prev... !

It seems to be very rarely enforced. I ride in Seattle without a helmet all the time and have never had a problem.

It seems to be selectively enforced against certain demographics. There was a discussion[1] in /r/Seattle earlier

1. https://old.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/kebyab/nearly_half...

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#248

Post by analog31 » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:36 AM UTC

sneak wrote: post #118

Analemma_ wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be very rarely enforced. I ride in Seattle without a helmet all the time and have never had a problem.

Out of curiosity: why do you ride without a helmet?

In my case, it's because the store is a few blocks away along a carefully chosen route. Otherwise, I wear one. It's saved me a couple times.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#249

Post by lxmorj » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:44 AM UTC

irateswami wrote: post #15

This is an actual conversation I had to have with my wife, having a third kid definitely requires a larger vehicle as the vast majority of cars today simply don't work for a family of five. Child car seats are too wide and the backseats of most cars are too narrow, and the price jump to a vehicle that would be able to handle three child car seats at once is enormous. Throw in some dogs, a couple pieces of luggage tha…

Seems like a good opp. Make a bench seat attachment that fits into most cars, with interchangeable carseats for different aged kids. Could have a 3-wide and a 4-wide model for different sized cars.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#250

Post by bobbylarrybobby » Thu, Dec 17, 2020, 2:48 AM UTC

j1elo wrote: post #211

eCa wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in Ukraine in the mid-00s. Saw a five person motorcycle. No helmets, but they had an open side-car so a bit more space. Youngest kid was in a bucket held by big sister.

Add to that a wooden box with a small metal bars through which I could glance a couple of chickens that were being transported by the family, in Vietnam. Amazing. The rate of children deaths or severe injuries caused by motorbike accidents must have been over the roof in these countries.

Must have been? Large parts of Southeast Asia still get around with the whole family on one motorbike today. Not so much in the large cities but once you get outside them, absolutely.