Car Seat Rules Cause Lower Birth Rates in USA

[Hank77]

March 2023

American families aren't having enough children. I think there's evidence that some of the things that we're doing to parents is driving down the number of children that American families are having. In particular, there's evidence that the car seat rules that we've imposed, which of course I want kids to drive in car seats, have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000. So as we think about how to make kids safe here, I think we should do it in a way that's accommodating to American families, and I encourage your organization to do that.

Watch video below beginning at 1:45:01

Enhancing Consumer Protections and Connectivity in Air Transportation

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing titled “Enhancing Consumer Protections and Connectivity in Air Transportation” on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. ET. This hearing will...

www.commerce.senate.gov

 

[Desk trauma]

And icecream consumption causes drowning.

 

[Paulos23]

March 2023

American families aren't having enough children. I think there's evidence that some of the things that we're doing to parents is driving down the number of children that American families are having. In particular, there's evidence that the car seat rules that we've imposed, which of course I want kids to drive in car seats, have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000. So as we think about how to make kids safe here, I think we should do it in a way that's accommodating to American families, and I encourage your organization to do that.

Watch video below beginning at 1:45:01

Enhancing Consumer Protections and Connectivity in Air Transportation

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing titled “Enhancing Consumer Protections and Connectivity in Air Transportation” on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. ET. This hearing will...

www.commerce.senate.gov

They are talking about safety issues and Vance is complaining it is too expensive. Sorry, the medical bills and/or burial bills are way more expensive.

It is not the cost of car seats that is lowering the birth rate.

 

[Hank77]

I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if over 100,000 babies and toddlers' lives are saved every year because of car seat restraints. That's not even taking into consideration saving children from permanent disabilities and disfigurement.

I never thought I'd say this but this guy is wackier than Sarah Palin.

 

[iluvatar5150]

They are talking about safety issues and Vance is complaining it is too expensive. Sorry, the medical bills and/or burial bills are way more expensive.

It is not the cost of car seats that is lowering the birth rate.

From what I recall, the claim wasn't that the problem was the cost of car seats, but rather the size. If you have two kids, you can fit both car seats in the back of a 2-row vehicle. But if you have three kids, you need a third row, because the car seats are too wide to fit 3-across in most vehicles. Moving up to three rows means a much bigger and potentially more expensive vehicle.

That's still not the main reason to not have a third kid, but it is one more thing on the pile.

 

[Paulos23]

From what I recall, the claim wasn't that the problem was the cost of car seats, but rather the size. If you have two kids, you can fit both car seats in the back of a 2-row vehicle. But if you have three kids, you need a third row, because the car seats are too wide to fit 3-across in most vehicles. Moving up to three rows means a much bigger and potentially more expensive vehicle.

That's still not the main reason to not have a third kid, but it is one more thing on the pile.

It depends on the car. In some cars, you can fit three car seats across if you stage them (i.e., the middle one looks backward).

But you are right, it is not the main reason not to have a third kid. However, it is a good reason to spread them out in years between births.

 

[rambot]

Why listen to ANYONE other than the people NOT having kids to understand why people aren't having kids?
You'd find the following the top 4 reasons I think:
1) They
2) Can't
3) Afford
4) Children
OR
5) They
6) Don't
7) Feel
8) Hopeful
9) They
10) Will
11) Later.

 

[Vambram]

March 2023

American families aren't having enough children. I think there's evidence that some of the things that we're doing to parents is driving down the number of children that American families are having. In particular, there's evidence that the car seat rules that we've imposed, which of course I want kids to drive in car seats, have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000. So as we think about how to make kids safe here, I think we should do it in a way that's accommodating to American families, and I encourage your organization to do that.

Watch video below beginning at 1:45:01

Enhancing Consumer Protections and Connectivity in Air Transportation

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing titled “Enhancing Consumer Protections and Connectivity in Air Transportation” on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. ET. This hearing will...

www.commerce.senate.gov

I am not familiar at all with any of the people in that hearing. I don't know if their so-called expert opinions and ideas can be trusted, or not.

 

[Fantine]

There are health fairs that give car seats to needy families, as well as pregnancy support centers. And one car seat can be used over and over with different children.

 

[Hank77]

I am not familiar at all with any of the people in that hearing. I don't know if their so-called expert opinions and ideas can be trusted, or not.

You're not familiar with Vance?
Trusted about what? This thread is only about a statement made by Vance in this committee meeting.

 

[Hank77]

There are health fairs that give car seats to needy families, as well as pregnancy support centers. And one car seat can be used over and over with different children.

Our local health clinic loans them out to any family for as long as they can use them.

 

[iluvatar5150]

And one car seat can be used over and over with different children.

Eh, maybe for an infant car seat, but for a convertible/front-facing toddler seat, you'd be lucky to get 2 kids through it. Car Seats supposedly have an expiration date 6-10 years from the date of manufacture and a kid could easily stay in one until they're 6. I'm not sure how much I buy into the expiration date thing, but that's what "they say."

 

[Vambram]

You're not familiar with Vance?
Trusted about what? This thread is only about a statement made by Vance in this committee meeting.

I didn't have the time to watch the accompanied video. How long into the video until JD Vance speaks?

 

[durangodawood]

March 2023

.....there's evidence that the car seat rules that we've imposed, which of course I want kids to drive in car seats, have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000......

Sen Vance please show us this evidence!

Because you sounds like a complete nut.

 

[durangodawood]

From what I recall, the claim wasn't that the problem was the cost of car seats, but rather the size. If you have two kids, you can fit both car seats in the back of a 2-row vehicle. But if you have three kids, you need a third row, because the car seats are too wide to fit 3-across in most vehicles. Moving up to three rows means a much bigger and potentially more expensive vehicle.

That's still not the main reason to not have a third kid, but it is one more thing on the pile.

Thats why you get a truck. You can throw 7 or 8 kids in the bed of a truck easy.

 

[Hank77]

I didn't have the time to watch the accompanied video. How long into the video until JD Vance speaks?

Beginning at 1:45:01

 

[Tropical Wilds]

Eh, maybe for an infant car seat, but for a convertible/front-facing toddler seat, you'd be lucky to get 2 kids through it. Car Seats supposedly have an expiration date 6-10 years from the date of manufacture and a kid could easily stay in one until they're 6. I'm not sure how much I buy into the expiration date thing, but that's what "they say."

I fit 2 infant carriers and a toddler seat in my car with no issue.

The “expiration” date on car seats have to do with a couple things… Firstly, as cars change and their safety features and standard measurements change, the seats have to change to keep pace. Cars were on average smaller in 2000 vs 2020, for example, so a smaller old car seat in a newer car wouldn’t do in, say, a roll-over. In car seats from 2010 to now, they changed again to take into account rear side curtain airbags, which are more standard than they were. That required a reshaping of the car seat to protect the baby from that.

The second primary reason is that car seats undergo wild temperature extremes… Studies have shown that the plastic begins to break down (especially in hot hot climates and cold cold climates), and will fail/not withstand crashes effectively at the 5ish year mark.

Finally, there’s just so many innovations that happen so quickly. Between my first and second, we had to retire the car seat because the metal buckle caused burns and the shell would retain heat that would melt the easy clean cover. Pretty much every car seat pre-2015 releases toxic fumes when left in hot cars thanks to BPA plastic. There was a car seat that touted un breakable buckles and straps, which is all well and good until it turned out most emergency services couldn’t cut through them. There were car seats that were child-proof where you needed keys to unlock them, which nobody thought was a bad idea for some strange reason.

Basically, for each kid, get a new car seat. Having seen gnarly accidents as an EMT that would have been a lot less gnarly if they had the right car seat, it’s an expense people should invest in. A car seat is cheaper than a casket.

 

[iluvatar5150]

I fit 2 infant carriers and a toddler seat in my car with no issue.

This depends on what car you have, but even in that case, you're not going to fit two toddler seats and a booster in there. At most, you kick the can down the road a couple years.

 

[RileyG]

And icecream consumption causes drowning.

Correlation doesn’t cause causation

 

[RileyG]

Why listen to ANYONE other than the people NOT having kids to understand why people aren't having kids?
You'd find the following the top 4 reasons I think:
1) They
2) Can't
3) Afford
4) Children
OR
5) They
6) Don't
7) Feel
8) Hopeful
9) They
10) Will
11) Later.

Everything in life is too expensive, sadly.

Or they don’t want children and it’s no one’s business.