A safer ride

Would you invest in a car seat for Baby if you didn’t own a car? Parents who rely on taxi services tell us why it’s worth the trouble.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel
CORBIS
CORBIS

When Tan Kai Hui heads out with her two-year-old, she sometimes carries considerably more luggage than many other parents with young kids. Besides a backpack of baby essentials, she and her husband lug a 3.7kg car seat, which comes with a compatible stroller. Although taxis here are exempt from child-safety seat requirements, they don’t feel safe travelling without one.

The 28-year-old pharmacist says: “Before that, we would borrow my parents’ car to take our son to and from the polyclinic for his jaundice. I would carry him in my arms, but it didn’t feel safe.” In cars here, anyone below the height of 1.35m is required to be secured with a child restraint appropriate for a person of that height and weight, or use a booster seat to supplement the seat belt. Those taller than 1.35m are required to wear a seat belt.

According to the Traffic Police, it wouldn’t be practical for taxis to carry a number of child-safety seats of different sizes. Some taxi companies here offer baby seats on request, but they don’t come cheap. For instance, Translimo Service offers up to three car seats for infants and toddlers at a minimum of $65 for a one-way trip. In the US, Uber offers a service called Uberfamily, where parents can request a car seat in their Uber app at a surcharge of US$10 (S$14.30). In Singapore, there is an ongoing petition started by an expatriate mother to galvanise support for Uber to bring Uberfamily to Singapore.

Never mind the hassle

Kai Hui takes less than five minutes to install the car seat in taxis, but admits that it’s troublesome, even though taxi drivers have been accommodating so far: “It helps if there is another person around to help collapse the stroller and put it into the boot while the other person handles the baby.” Dharma Lim, on the other hand, takes taxis with his baby daughter only for long journeys.

After trying the car seat in his brother’s car, he found that he needed a locking clip to hold it in the right position. As it can take up to 10 minutes to install the car seat, he plans to book cabs which come with Isofix – U-shaped anchors which allow child-safety seats to be secured firmly, without needing a seat belt. With that, it takes him only a few seconds. Only certain cab models come with it, though, such as the Comfort Hyundai i40, and SMRT and Transcab Chevrolet Epica LT, so he books taxis in advance.

Housewife Jodie Cartmill, 32, too, tries to book a cab when she goes out with her two young children. She’s been using car seats for her daughters since they were infants. She says: “Both kids are strapped in the pram so it’s easier to control them. I usually put the capsule in first, with Ava already strapped in it, and secure it with the seat belt. “Then, I will open up the booster seat, sit Emily on it and secure it. I would then fold up the pram, put it in the back and we are ready to go.” It takes her six minutes to install the capsule and the booster seat. Her helper is often with her, which “makes things much easier”.

Their taxi rides to the shopping mall or swimming pool take 10 to 20 minutes. She always tries to have the restraints with her, but admits she has been caught out when she is in a rush to get home or too tired to walk home from the MRT, and has strapped her children in with the adult seat belt, each in her own seat.

Take a seat

Choose the appropriate car seat according to your child’s weight.

NEWBORNS AND INFANTS

• Infant car seat Weighing about 4kg, this can be clipped into a compatible stroller, which are often sold together as a “travel system”. Some infant seats, especially the European-made ones, can be installed using just a vehicle’s seat belt.

Others, however, may need a locking clip to secure the car seat (refer to the seat’s instruction manual). This is because most seat belts in taxis and cars here do not have the ALR (Automatic Locking Retractor) or child restraint mode, where the user can tighten the seat belt to hold the car seat in the right position.

Most seat belts are in the ELR (Emergency Locking Retractor) mode, which locks only in an accident. The car seat would not be locked in place at other times. To find out which seat belts are in a taxi, gently pull the belt out of the retractor, feed 10cm of the belt back and then gently pull on the belt again. If the belt moves freely, it is in ELR mode.

My Reading Room

Popular infant car seats include the Maxi Cosi Cabriofi x (left, available at Mothercare for $358)

My Reading Room

the Cybex Aton Basic (below, available at Mothercare from $169).

• Lightweight convertible car seat Two taxi-friendly convertible car seats, which can be rear-facing or forward-facing, are the Combi Coccoro and Cosco Scenera Next (a US brand by the makers of Maxi Cosi). The Cosco Scenera needs a locking clip ($22.95, from www. taxibaby.sg). Both can be used till the child is 18kg, though Combi Coccoro can be used in rearfacing mode only till 15kg. The Cosco Scenera Next can be used in rear-facing mode till the child weighs 18kg, and is said to be fi ve times safer for children four years and younger to travel rear-facing, as their vertebrae have not fully formed yet.

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Both car seats fi t on strollers such as Mountain Buggy Nano (left, available at Mothercare for $499) and the Snap’n’Go stroller frame (about $100 from Amazon).

My Reading Room

The Combi Coccoro, which weighs 5.5kg, costs $389 from Mothercare (below), while the Cosco Scenera Next, which weighs 3.2kg, costs about $85 from Amazon before shipping.

TODDLERS

Folding forward-facing car seat These can be folded and slipped into the baskets of strollers. One model to check out: The Immi Go. It is only forward-facing, weighs under 5kg and has a fi ve-point harness. It’s easier to install in taxis that come with Isofix, but can be installed with a seat belt if necessary. Installation takes a couple of minutes and can be used for children between 10 kg and 25kg (available at www.taxibaby.sg for $440).

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CHILDREN AGED 4 AND UP

Booster seats These lift the child up so that the adult’s seat belt can be properly positioned over the kid’s body. One taxifriendly model is the 1.5kg Trunki Boostapak, which also doubles as a backpack (right, $115, from Mothercare). Another option is the Infl atable Bubblebum booster seat (about $100 from www.lazada.sg). The Ridesafer 2 travel vest is a wearable booster seat. Using seat-belt guides, it lowers the adult seat belt so that it can be secured properly over the child’s body (available at www.taxibaby.sg, between $225 and $300 for children 13.6kg and heavier).

How safe is safe?

Cheah L.L., 34, who usually has no one to help her when she is out with her infant and toddler, finds it challenging to use a car seat in taxis, even though she has one at home. The stay-at-home mother used to babywear her older son, who is now two, and put a seat belt over both of them “to give some form of restraint” when she took a cab.

She knew it was not safe – she read that in an accident, the baby could still be hurt – and took cabs only when necessary. When her second son came along three months ago, she decided to buy a Ridesafer travel vest, which is a wearable booster seat for her older boy, even though he was about 1kg under the recommended weight of 13.6 kg. She found it to be the most practical. Now, when she takes the taxi once or twice a week, she babywears her younger son in the taxi and puts the seat belt over both of them.

Crash statistics have shown that babies who are unrestrained or worn in a carrier in a car have “exceptionally high” risk of fatal injuries, according to car-seat technician Elise Mawson, who founded Taxi Baby Singapore, a company that sells car seats and other safety products that can be used in taxis and planes. The traffic police here say no children died in road accidents from January to September last year, although 207 were injured.

In the US, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, child-safety seats can reduce fatal injury by 71 per cent for infants and 54 per cent for toddlers aged one to four. L.L. knows she is not handling the situation ideally. “It sounds awful that I seem to be trading safety for convenience but the reality is, if I try using car seats and strollers and end up not managing them well, it can be dangerous, too. “For instance, how do I ensure that my toddler will cooperate and stay still in the cab while I am busy setting up the car seat and stroller?”