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Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

economist.com

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Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#361

Post by ClumsyPilot »

kube-system wrote: post #218
1-6 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not forget the expiration dates on Car Safety Seats. C'mon, really? Seats with Styrofoam may deteriorate eventually but I haven't heard of a casualties due to expired car seats.

Some tests have found that brand new seats break when loaded near their stated limits. I think it is reasonable to say that plastic weakened due to the relatively harsh thermal and UV conditions in a car would fare worse. https://www.consumerreports.org/toddler-booster-seats/child-...

I don't think a seat will get any UV exposure in a car, UV does not pass through glass

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#362

Post by organsnyder »

nsxwolf wrote: post #107
organsnyder wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not full electric, but we've been loving our Pacifica PHEV. You do sacrifice a bit of practicality—no towing capability, and the middle seats don't fold into the floor like the gas version (the battery is down there)—but in the summer we sometimes go months without refueling. I fully concur on the practicality. The only vehicle more versatile than a minivan is full-size van (my family's conversion van growing up was…

Thanks for the heads up on the PHEV and the stow-and-go seats. That one would be a no-go for us because we it to haul stuff all the time. With the seats fully stowed it's practically as good as a pickup truck. Of course, you have to get all the toy cars and goldfish crackers off the floor first if you want the seats to actually stow.

I've found the goldfish crackers readily crush themselves out of the way and the dust vacuums up fairly easily, especially if left to age for at least three months. Toy cars can definitely bugger up latches and hinges, though.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#363

Post by imron »

bobthepanda wrote: post #202
imron wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> e.g. very few bags might hold a 15-in laptop and also a helmet I clip the helmet to the backpack straps.

I have a hard time imagining this. To the front or under the bag? Also, wouldn't it just bang into you as you walked?

If you are wearing the backpack with both straps, then I attach at the bottom of the strap, near the waist.

Yes it bumps in to me but not in a way that bothers me (it’s more ‘resting’ than ‘bumping’).

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#364

Post by Ntrails »

ynniv wrote: post #262
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…

I replaced my 3-series BMW with a Honda Odyssey, and I've spent two years singing its praises. Part of the problem is that we have created a culture that uses cars as a form of self expression, and many early parents aren't ready to "be" a minivan. But the minivan is what you actually want as a parent: room for six people of any size, or four people and at least twice as much cargo as an SUV, with safe, remote contro…

> It's a living room on wheels, including the TV.

I remain bemused at the idea a tv is a necessity for family car journeys. I would not want one in anything I was driving.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#365

Post by adrianN »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #360
adrianN wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's explore that after we figured out how to live without destroying the planet.

The economy will collapse if there are 2 pensioners per employee

The economy will also collapse if climate change keeps going, the oceans are empty, topsoil is gone, aquifers depleted, insect populations decimated...

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#366

Post by KozmoNau7 »

wirthjason wrote: post #343
tomcam wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own a Porsche 911, a Mercedes GL 550, and a Toyota Sienna XLE. I like cars. However, one of my best friends never told me he was going to the annual car show, despite the fact that we often have lunch together. When I asked why he said it was because I had mentioned that I think the minivan is a peak of automotive greatness. He comes from the Detroit area, and literally assumed I didn’t care about cars simply becau…

Don’t leave us hanging. Why is the minivan peak of automotive greatness, particularly in comparison to the other cars you mentioned. I would surly think a 911 is a much superior machine.

They way I see it, a 911 (or any sports car, really) is for when you want to drive for the sake of driving. In any other use case, it is an impractical compromise, because it was built for a specific purpose. The 911 may even be the most practical sports car, others are much less usable day-to-day. If you choose to daily drive a Porsche, you choose a specific compromise. For driving fast and giving you that fizz of being in control of a powerful machine, obviously it's superior to a minivan, because that's what it was designed to do.

You can certainly drive yourself and one other person on a weekend trip in a 911, no doubt. Anything beyond that quickly becomes a hassle, unless you go for a roof rack or a roof box, which is not ideal. It makes the car top-heavy and is not nearly as secure as packing things inside the car. There is also the issue of suspension travel and ground clearance, again the 911 is better and more comfortable than a lot of other sports cars in this respect, but it is still quite firm and has low ground clearance.

A minivan carries more people in comfort, holds more luggage inside the car hidden from prying eyes, it has better gas mileage and it is cheaper to purchase and service. It does vastly more things better than a 911, which only does a few things exceptionally well.

Personally, I would rather drive a minivan with my friends and our gear to a cabin far in the woods for a week or two of vacation, than I would take a 911 for a drive on public roads or a track day. The minivan is better at the things most people want/need.

Unfortunately, they have been swayed towards SUVs and trucks and sports cars by marketing.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#367

Post by dmm »

Ntrails wrote: post #364
ynniv wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I replaced my 3-series BMW with a Honda Odyssey, and I've spent two years singing its praises. Part of the problem is that we have created a culture that uses cars as a form of self expression, and many early parents aren't ready to "be" a minivan. But the minivan is what you actually want as a parent: room for six people of any size, or four people and at least twice as much cargo as an SUV, with safe, remote contro…

> It's a living room on wheels, including the TV. I remain bemused at the idea a tv is a necessity for family car journeys. I would not want one in anything I was driving.

Our minivan came with one and we've literally never used it. After a while the kids stop asking. I think we keep a dvd in the van in case we're stuck somewhere with nothing to do but it's never come up.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#368

Post by memling »

adrianN wrote: post #365
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The economy will collapse if there are 2 pensioners per employee

The economy will also collapse if climate change keeps going, the oceans are empty, topsoil is gone, aquifers depleted, insect populations decimated...

> The economy will also collapse if climate change keeps going, the oceans are empty, topsoil is gone, aquifers depleted, insect populations decimated...

Yeah, there's a tension here it seems. But it's harder to fix a pension system with technology, and the system is much more socially fragile. There are policy approaches available in the US that might not be available elsewhere (e.g., lifting income caps on social security and medicare taxes) that will kick the can a bit further down the road, but it's challenging to make diverse societies peaceful and cohesive.

On the other hand, private enterprise and technology have a bevy of tools that aren't as readily available to policy makers. Government in principle can encourage more environmentally-friendly energy and food production, but they're not in the business of actually innovating.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#369

Post by jtbayly »

This paper is fascinating and probably the basis of the article (I can’t tell since it’s paywalled):

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3665046

I think the really sad part is the increased burden of rules supposedly to protect kids that are useless, such as booster seat laws.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#370

Post by mensetmanusman »

agensaequivocum wrote: post #251
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…

I've been thinking about whether, when we have our fourth, to get a minivan, or just jump straight to a 15 passenger van. I know I'll need one eventually.

We got the 7 seater transit after we were pregnant with our fourth, then exchanged it for the sub 7ft height 15 seater after we had 5.
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