? I was on my way home from picking my DD up. Stopped at a red light and the lady next to me had her newborn in the…

Samirs thanks for pointing that out. I meant forward face. My bad don't freak out everyone.

This is helpful

http://www.babycenter.com/0_car-seat-safety-air-bags_396.bc

For a minute I thought she gave birth in the front seat. I was VERY confused.

Honestly, I feel if you asked her she would've responded that she prefers to see her baby whilst driving. OR it could've been some kind of emergency. We won't know. I just hope she had her passenger airbag turned off.

Why is it legal to drive a carseat around in a single cab truck though? That's what I wanna know! While it's no different to have the carseat in the front of a van or a single cab truck, it IS different to have a carseat in a backseat versus the front seat, right?

@samaris that was most likely a typo

I'm assuming something was wrong with the back seats? No seat belts/anchors maybe? Surely no one drives around with their infant up front for fun... right? ?

I think @haters probably misstyped and meant to say you should never ff a newborn? Hopefully...

@shana my step dad used to take my brother and I around in his commercial van where there were only 2 seats in the front and just empty space in the back. I had to sit in a camping chair and even at one point did a back flip out of it bc step dad cut a corner hard and fast. We're definitely not illegal immigrants (we're from the south in fact) so that really was unnecessary.

@OP I'm sorry you weren't able to educate the lady driving the van. I pray someone else does so nothing bad happens to that poor baby. ?

Yeah, did anyone else not notice that pp said you should never rf a newborn?

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Yep. Definitely legal in the uk. Your car's manual tells you how to ensure a good fit. Some cars will not fit an infant car seat on the back. Modern cars have a key operated switch to turn off passenger airbags. Even the new car i bought in 2001 had one.

How do you turn the airbag off?

I thought is was more of an airbag issue than being in front or back.

PP, that's my understanding too.

In UK it's legal and considered perfectly safe to have baby in front seat ( rear facing) as long as the airbags are turned off.

I might be misunderstanding as I'm half asleep, but my understanding is that a newborn in car seat should be facing the back of the car, and it's safe to have them in the front seat aslong as passenger airbag is switched off?

I am so confused. Pp said you should never rear face a newborn??? What?

@the wife there is no difference between sitting rearfacing in the front seat of a van and sitting rear facing in a single cab truck, AS LONG AS THE AIRBAGS ARE OFF. The airbags are what make it so dangerous to place a baby in the front seat. It's not a "darned if you do darned if you don't" thing. There are safety guidelines for car seats in place for a reason, and a lot of women on here know them well. Instead of getting uppity about how strict women are with car seat rules, maybe you can learn from some of them who know what they're talking about?

Op, it is ok that the baby was in the front as long as the airbags were turned off.

Maybe the baby had medical condition and needs watching, maybe there was things in van being delivered, maybe there was no belts in rear van seat to secure it. There are many probable reasons.

@shanamae:

What an ignorant comment to make. How do you know she's illegal? "Legal" U.S. citizens sometimes don't have insurance. Are you going to assume that all uninsured motorists driving in the U.S. are illegal?

I guess that I can assume you're racist then, huh?

It was still a irrelevant detail to add. ?

Maybe the airbags are turned off in the front seat... I don't know what her reason is so I can't possibly justify judging someone when it's possible she still safely installed the car seat. Maybe she wasn't able to safely latch in the back seats

If the airbag is off can't she do that?

But why did you feel the need to add illegal immigrant in your sentence?

I know that she was an illegal immigrant because she didn't have insurance and we got screwed.

@Shana would your dad not have been hit if she was a citizen as opposed to an illegal immigrant ???

@Shana can you explain why you had to add "illegal immigrant"? Like tf that had to do with anything?

Maybe the van had no back seats? My stepdad was t-boned by an illegal immigrant who had her kids sitting in the back of the van in lawn chairs because the van had no back seats.

True story, I kid you not about 7 and a half years ago (I remember I was still pregnant with dd1) I remember I was driving and a woman at the stop light next to me was driving and breastfeeding at the same time WTF!! The light turned green and we both went and I was sooo shocked I didn't do a thing ? looking back now, I wish I would've done something or called the police.

And in no way would I have been condescending or rude about it. I'm a very nice and sweet person. People can inform others in a polite way.

Yeah.. Ok I'll just turn off. Be cold to the public and not care about the well being of another.

What if she was like juniper? And didn't know it wasn't safe.

No wonder our society is messed up. If everyone minded their own business our world would be one cruel place to be. It's already bad enough. I say if you see something SAY SOMETHING

@princess it was a van, not a truck ?. I would have said something in a nice way. If I had been in your situation I would have been thankful that someone else cared about my child's safety, not gotten pissed about it.

So suddenly it defies physics just because there's no other seats available? Isn't it still unsafe?

Time to upgrade vehicles if you're having a baby, imo.

BabyDante you are correct. Airbags in newer cars are weight pressured so if you are below a certain weight the airbag is inactive.

Hater. My point is how would one be any safer than the other. A van seat will go back further that a single cab truck and airbags won't activate.

Op I'm not trolling at all but you women are like a bunch of damn if you do damn if you dont types. If the baby was in a car seat front facing in the 2nd row she'd be wrong. If the baby is rear facing in a car seat in the front of a van she's wrong BUT a mother rear facing the a single cab truck is ok. There's no difference between the two.

The wife yes the difference is in a single cab truck you only have the front seats. So you have no choice and like I said as long as airbags are off it's legal. If your driving a van obviously you have more seats and babies and kids need to go in the back ,it's the law. At least in the US it is.

I'm not sure if your trolling or what. But trucks are wider and taller. This van is at level with sedans. I wouldn't feel safe driving my child in the front seat of any vehicle regardless of style. It gave me anxiety just seeing it. Would you have let her be on her marry way and not said a thing? Would seeing that bother you at all?

I've driven in a single cab truck with DD. And the airbags have to be off. As long as air bags are off it's legal.

@thewife I could be wrong but I believe in the case that you have no choice but to put your baby in a single cab truck, you're supposed to turn the airbags off? That's what I've read but I've never actually had to do it myself so I'm not sure how accurate that is.

I never said that at all. I'm asking what the difference is. 3 extra rows of seating or not can you tell me what's different about it?

By your logic parents shouldn't drove their kids around in the seat of a single cab truck because it's not safe.

Haters. All vehicles have airbags so that's not the reason.

I believe airbags. Aldo you should never rearface a newborn.

It's like seeing toddlers not in booster seats smh it makes me cringe ?

@kkdb that's what I'd call awesome neighborhood watch! Lol better to be safe than sorry!

Well... it's a single cab truck, it doesn't have 3 extra rows of empty seats. Are you saying you put your baby in the front seat??

Totally unrelated, but my sister had one of those fake babies they give you for a week in high school. She went to pick up her friend and moved the fake baby's seat into her trunk to make room and her friends neighbor called the cops on her ??

What's the difference in rear facing in a van compared to a single cab truck?

I attempted to get the plates. It was rush hour and there was no way of getting it safely. Not going to put my child in danger to get plates. Best to wish them well and thar someone else can catch her to let her know. I tried.

Oh my gosh. I did the same thing with my first child. Luckily I got pulled over and the officer informed me that babies had to go in the back. I was 19 and so very ignorant. I thank God that nothing happened to her while I was driving around like that.

Too little to late, but you should have gotten the plate number and called PD on her. How horrible for that baby if something happens ?

It's like she wants to kill her baby?. My SO and I were driving once with our kids in the back. We had the air on but apparently it wasn't enough so the man that was stopped next to us did everything he could to get our attention to let us know our youngest was sweating a lot. We were so grateful and lucky someone cared enough to let us know before he overheated. I hope somebody did the same for her baby☹️.