If you’re like most parents with young children, you probably don’t think twice about renting cars when traveling to faraway places on vacation. And once you’ve gotten off the plane and gotten a car, you probably don’t think twice about picking up a rented car seat. After all, you’re already ahead of the game by choosing a rental car seat instead of just strapping your little ones into cars with seat belts, and the rental car company surely wouldn’t offer you car seats that weren’t safe, if not fancy…right?

Unfortunately, reality can be a bit more complex when it comes to renting car seats. Today, let’s take a look at whether or not it’s worth it to invest in rental car seats while you’re traveling or on vacation. I don’t think it’s worth it, and here’s why.

Why use car seats in the first place while traveling? Aren’t seat belts safe enough?

Seat belts are better than nothing, but they aren’t safe enough when it comes to transporting children in most moving vehicles. You’ll want to use car seats while driving, whether in your vehicle, in a taxi or Uber, or while renting a car because the physics are the same in any normally-sized passenger vehicle. Kids are safest when you rear-face them as much as possible (ideally until 4!), harness them in forward-facing seats for several years more (ideally until 6, 7, or 8!), and then switch them out of booster seats only when they pass the 5 step test (which typically happens between 10 and 12). Unless you’re traveling by train or bus, these are principles to live by.; they keep kids safe by reducing the forces they experience in vehicular collisions.

This also applies when traveling by plane, by the way. The Federal Aircraft Administration, the American Association of Pediatricians, and the National Transportation Safety Board agree that kids should fly in installed car seats on airplanes, and I agree with them, even though air travel is by far and away the safest way to travel per mile. That said, if there’s a time when you can get away with not using car seats when you should be using them, it’s during air travel.

Now that we’ve reviewed when you’ll want to have car seats available, here are a number of reasons why you shouldn’t plan on renting whatever the local rental car company has on hand when you  arrive at your vacation destination.

1. The right seats for the right ages are often unavailable.

Car rental companies are in the business of renting cars; car seats are an afterthought if they’re considered at all. What this means is that even if you find a rental company that does rent car seats, there’s a good chance that the seats aren’t going to do what you need them to, which is keep your kids restrained appropriately relative to their physical and psychological development.

You’ll find many rental companies that only stock the cheapest rear-facing convertibles; the kinds that most kids will outgrow long before they turn 2 (and remember that you’ll want to rear-face until 4). You’ll find other car companies only stock bucket seats and booster seats; your 2-year old won’t fit in the bucket seat and will need to choose between the seat belt and the booster seat. Both are horrible choices for a 2 year old. Both are horrible choices for a 3, 4, and 5 year old. Ideally, kids should still be rear-facing at 2, 3, and 4 (or even beyond if you can help it), and should be in harnessed seats until 8 if possible.

And if you happen to have an 8-year old, the chances are good that the booster seats won’t even fit him or her. The odds of finding boosters that fit your 9, 10, 11, or 12 year old are even lower, even though many kids will need to be in boosters during those ages.

You might find great cars that fit your family at a rental company, but you’re unlikely to find safe car seats that fit your children.

2. The seats that are available are often damaged, expired, or both.

However, let’s say that you’re lucky enough to find car seats that do fit your children at their physical or psychological stages of development. You’re not out of the woods yet; the odds are good that the seats will be expired. Rental companies aren’t legally required to keep up to date car seats; it’s up to you to make sure that the seats you’re getting are still safe for use. Remember that car seats do expire (typically between 6 and 10 years, depending on the seat).

The information is usually available on a sticker on the side of the seat, but there’s always the possibility that the sticker might be removed accidentally or deliberately, or simply overlooked. And even if the seat isn’t expired, you have no way of knowing that the seat hasn’t been damaged in some way. Most car seat manufacturers stipulate that their seats are replaced after being involved in any collision. The rental company might disclose such collisions to you…but I wouldn’t bet on it. There’s also the fact that they simply might not know their car seats were involved in collisions, or even know that the seats should be replaced after such collisions.

This doesn’t even get into the fact that a rental car seat will almost be guaranteed to be missing an instruction manual. If you’re a car seat installation whiz, you might not need one, but if you’re dealing with an unfamiliar seat or aren’t comfortable with the installation process, it’s not something you’ll want to go without.

At this point, it’s probably starting to become clear, if it hasn’t already, that car seats in rental companies can have very murky histories.

3. Rented car seats are often more expensive than just buying new seats on-site.

Finally, and perhaps most practically, you’d often be better off financially just buying a new budget car seat wherever you’re traveling on vacation than trying to rent one from a rental company. Many companies will charge between $10 and $30 (or even more!) a day for a car seat, and it’s possible to get a cheap modern car seat for around $50 at a local box store. If you’re renting a seat for several days, you might quickly find yourself spending more than you would have if you’d just bought a new seat upon arrival at your destination. This is even more likely to be the case if you’re looking for booster seats, which tend to cost less than convertible or infant seats.

If I shouldn’t rent car seats, then what do you suggest when traveling or on vacation, Mike?

Great question! Personally, I’d recommend either bringing your seats with you ahead of time or buying new ones when you arrive. Bringing your seats will keep you from needing to go new seat shopping and will also let you work with seats you’re familiar with when it comes to installing them in your rented vehicles. You’ll also be able to use them on the airplane if you so choose, since most seats are FAA approved. If you buy a seat on-site, you’ll save money compared to a rental in many cases while having the knowledge and security that the seat you bought has never been involved in a collision, lapsed into expiration, or featured out of date safety standards.

Travel can be a wonderful experience for adults and children alike; make it a safe one by staying away from rented car seats if at all possible.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.

One of the questions I frequently get from parents involves school transportation safety. Parents usually ask me whether it’s better to use one way or another, and if the “best” way changes with the age of their children.

I understand the concern. I have kids of my own, and think about their safety and development every day. We send our kids to school through a variety of ways, although the two most common ways involve school buses and driving them, followed by walking and bicycling. However we do it, we want to make sure our kids are protected. But what’s the safest way?

The answer is the school bus. When it comes to getting your child to and from his or her school, there isn’t a safer way, statistically speaking, than by bus. Let’s dive into why.

How much safer are school buses than teens driving themselves or parents driving them?

This chart from School Bus Facts lays out the case clearly for students traveling by school bus instead of with teen drivers or even parents. For every 100 students who died traveling to school in a given year, more than 58 were either driving themselves or riding with fellow teens. Another 23 were killed while being transported by parents. Another 18 died through other causes (e.g., being hit as pedestrians or cyclists, as motorcycle occupants, and in other types of vehicles). Only one was likely to die while traveling by school bus.

To put it another way, it’s more than 50 times safer for students to travel by bus than by driving themselves or with other teens, and it’s more than 20 times safer for students to travel by bus than with their own parents.

This is huge.

However, the dramatic safety differences become clearer when we put some actual numbers into the statistics. Per an NHTSA Safety In Numbers newsletter, close to 500 (490) students between 5 and 18 die annually in passenger vehicles (e.g., cars, SUVs, minivans, etc) during hours of school-related travel (i.e., 6-9 AM and 2-5 PM), and 74% of those fatalities involve teen drivers. An additional 100 children between 5 and 18 will die each year while walking or cycling to school (75 pedestrians and 21 bicyclists).

How many school-age children will die each year while riding school buses, in contrast?

Only 4. Far less than 100, and far, far less than 500.

What makes school buses so much safer than cars, even when parents drive?

School buses are safer than cars, whether those cars are driven by teenagers or by parents, because school buses are designed with safety in mind. They’re larger, heavier, and more structurally sound than passenger vehicles. They need to meet far more federal safety standards than passenger vehicles, including the use of overhead flashing lights, which increase visibility, and stop arms to stop traffic when loading and unloading students.

Additionally, school buses have closely spaced seats that absorb energy to protect students in collisions; these seats keep students safe without seat belts by cushioning them and keeping them close to where they are seated. The process is commonly called compartmentalization, and it works well in comparison with the much greater mass of school buses, which results in much lower crash forces.

Beyond these factors, school bus drivers are highly trained and pay far more attention to the task of driving than the average driver. They are also more likely to follow traffic rules and regulations (including speed limits and stop signs) due to being profesional drivers.

Why are school buses safer than walking or bicycling to school?

School-age children are 5x less likely to die (4 vs 21) while riding the bus than while bicycling to school, and close to 20x less likely to die (4 vs 75) while riding the bus than while walking to school. Why is this?

Unfortunately, it comes down to the prevalence of vehicles throughout the country, and the massive protection offered by a school bus compared to the complete lack of protection present when walking or cycling. I’m a huge fan of walking and cycling to get places, but in a country with lots of passenger vehicles, it does involve risk. These pedestrians and cyclists were killed by other vehicles; when those vehicles crash into school buses, the occupants in the school buses almost always survive.

What do I do if we live too close to school to take the bus, or if it simply isn’t an option for us? Do we walk, cycle, or drive?

If you can’t use a school bus to get your child to school (perhaps due to attending a private school, for example, or due to conflicting schedules), then I’d encourage you to make the safest choice for your family. If you have a safe path for walking or cycling, this would be my preference, as it minimizes the risk of road traffic and contact with thoughtless motor vehicle operators. If walking or cycling isn’t an option, then I’d drive my kids. The least preferred option, by far, would be to have my kids drive themselves; this is where most school-age child fatalities occur, year after year.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can  shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!

One of the most common questions I get from parents involves the safety of the 3rd row in 3-row minivans and SUVs. Whether from old articles online, rumors from baby forums, or general feelings of unease, many parents come to believe the third row is one to be avoided at all costs.  However, is it true?

Not at all. There are certainly risks involved with using the third row, but on average, the third row is actually the *safest* place to be in a vehicle with three rows. We’ll dive into why in this article.

The Third Row is the Safest Row in a Crash – But Why?

The reason why the third row is the safest place for children, car seats, or passengers in general, on average, is due to the distribution of points of impact in fatal multi-vehicle collisions. From earlier articles, you know that most fatal multiple-vehicle crashes by volume are frontal crashes, followed by side collisions, followed by rear-end collisions. Why is this?

Not all crashes carry the same risks of fatalities

Frontal collisions (e.g., head-ons, moderate overlaps, small overlaps) are the most common fatal multiple-vehicle collisions simply because most roads don’t offer significant barriers between opposite direction traffic, and high-speed (e.g., 40 mph and higher) collisions in such situations can rapidly become fatal.

In fact, analyses of multiple-vehicle collisions and fatalities reveals that roughly 1 out of 2 multiple-vehicle collisions involve frontal impacts, and 1 out of every 2 multiple collision deaths are from such impacts. This doesn’t mean that 1 out of every 2 frontal collisions will lead to fatalities; it just means that half of all multiple-vehicle collisions involve frontal collisions, and that half of all multiple-vehicle fatalities also involve frontal collisions. It’s a common crash scenario, and it’s also a common fatality scenario. However, the risk of dying in a frontal collision is proportional to the risk of being involved in one. This isn’t the case in side and rear-end collisions.

Side collisions (.e.g, t-bones) aren’t as common in occurrence as frontal collisions; only about 1 out of every 5 multiple-vehicle collisions will feature one vehicle t-boning another. However, if a multiple-vehicle collision is a fatal one, there is a 1 in 3 chance that the collision involved a side impact. In other words, the risk of dying in a side collision is disproportionately higher than the risk of dying in a frontal collision.

Fortunately, with rear-end collisions, the odds reverse in our favor. Rear-end collisions are more common than side impact collisions (slightly more than 1 out of every 4 multiple-vehicle collisions are rear-enders), but they’re dramatically less likely to be fatal. Only 1 out of every 12 multiple collision deaths results from one vehicle crashing into another from behind. In other words, the risk of dying in a rear-end collision is proportionally much lower than the risk of dying in either a frontal- or side-collision. In fact, even though there are 25% more rear-enders than t-bones on the road, there are more than 4x as many side impact fatalities than rear-end fatalities each year.

Where are the most dangerous and safest positions for a child in a vehicle?

An analysis of crash frequencies and fatalities shows us that the most dangerous places for a child to sit in a vehicle are likely the front passenger seat, followed the outboard seats of the second row, followed by the outboard seats of the third row.

I’d estimate the safest places for a child to sit in a vehicle are the center third and center second row seats, followed by outboard seats in the third and second rows. This doesn’t take the orientation (e.g., rear- vs forward-facing), duration (e.g., rear-facing until 1 vs rear-facing until 5) or type (e.g., harnessed vs booster) of seat into account, but simply the location of the seat.

How to use car seat choices reduce risks of child injury or death in frontal, side, and rear collisions

With this knowledge, our focus turns toward reducing the risks of deaths from frontal- and side-impact collisions by varying the kinds of car seats we choose, how we orient them, and how long we use them before changing to less safe seats. This is ultimately more important.

We reduce these risks by rear-facing children for as long as possible (ideally until at least 4), then either forward-facing or boostering, provided your kids sit safely and are at least 5.  We then keep them in booster seats until they’re large enough to sit safely in adult vehicle seats with only seat belts (which typically happens between the ages of 10 to 12). The orientation of the seat, the type of seat used, and the length of time a child spends in a particular seat has a greater impact on child safety than where a child happens to be sitting in a vehicle.

In other words, a rear-facing child in any row is safer than a forward-facing child in any row. A 5-year old in a harnessed seat in any row is safer than a 5-year old boostered child in any row. The longer you can keep your kids rear-facing vs forward-facing, the safer they are. The longer you can keep them forward-facing vs boostered, the safer they are. The longer you can keep them boostered (until they’re big enough to use adult seats and belts), the safer they are.

So you’re telling me, Mike, that the third row is a safe place for kids or adults?

Yes! The third row is likely the safest place you can seat a child in a vehicle that offers such a row, and I’d estimate the center seat of the third row to be the safest location in a vehicle. The third row is the most impervious to severe frontal crashes, which take the greatest number of lives per year in multiple-vehicle collisions.

This, by the way, is why airplanes almost always have their cockpit and data recorders located in the tail of the plane; this location has the most protection from catastrophic damage due to the rest of the plane being in front of it.

The center seat in any row, as I’ve discussed previously, offers the most protection against side impact collisions, which are much rarer than rear-facing collisions but are proportionally much more likely to be fatal. The third row is the most vulnerable to rear-end collisions, but statistically, these collisions are the least likely to result in fatal injuries simply because of the direction in which both vehicles will be traveling.

Above all, remember that seat orientation, duration, and type matters more than row location. In Sweden, for example, parents frequently install rear-facing seats in the front passenger seat of vehicles. This is very rare in the US, but statistically, it’s still safer than forward-facing anywhere else in the vehicle.

As a result, if rear-end collisions aren’t the least common collisions but are the types of multiple-vehicle collisions with the lowest fatality risks, it stands to reason that these are the collisions you need to spend the least amount of time worrying about. However, you do want to make sure that your third row has side curtain airbags, just as your second and first rows should, as these offer substantial protection against side impact collisions, particularly if your child is seated in an outboard seat. Most new three row vehicles that feature side airbags do feature them in all three rows, but this is not always the case, so you’ll want to check (Kia, for example, didn’t include third row side airbags in the previous generation Sorento).

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can  shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Join us in the forums!

I’ve written extensively about how important it is to keep our children safely and properly restrained in car seats, in order to maximize their odds of surviving car collisions. In the United States, the leading cause of death for children between the ages of around 1 and 14 are car collision-related trauma, or car accidents. We can increase the likelihoods of keeping our kids safe in cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks of all sizes by rear-facing as long as possible, forward-facing as long as possible, and using booster seats until our kids pass the 5-step test. This is the meat and potatoes of this blog. However, our kids don’t simply travel in private vehicles. Sometimes we choose to take taxis, buses, airplanes, and trains. How do we keep our kids safe in those?

This is the start of a series on keeping kids safe in alternative means of transportation. Today’s focus will be on safe train travel with kids.

How safe are trains compared to cars?

Many parents have asked me over the years about the safety of trains and how to keep their children protected when they have to use them. They’re often already familiar with what I advocate regarding car seat use, safe driving techniques, and safe vehicle choices. However, they don’t know to what degree any of this is applicable to train travel. The good news is that trains are among the safest forms of transportation we have available. The USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics states 11 people died on trains (both freight and passenger railroads) in 2013.  In comparison, 22,383 people lost their lives that year traveling in motor vehicles, per the NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Furthermore, per the National Safety Council,

In 2012, the passenger death rate in light duty vehicles was 0.49 per 100 million passenger-miles. The rates for buses, trains and airlines were 0.04, 0.02, and 0.00 respectively.

The risk of dying per mile in a passenger vehicle in 2012 was 24 times higher than when traveling as a passenger in a train. To put it simply, it’s much, much safer to travel by train than it is to travel by car, van, SUV, or pickup truck.

Besides that, it’s a lot more fun to travel by train over long distances for young children and adults, simply because you’re free to walk around throughout most of the journey, and you can spend time focused on each other without worrying about driving. You can also go to the bathroom whenever you want!

Can you use a car seat on a train? Do you need one?

To put it simply, no, and no. Trains don’t have seat belts, which means it’s impossible to securely attach a car seat to a train. The statistics suggest you don’t need one, as do physics.

The sudden deceleration (and resultant inertia) that occur in car collisions are what makes them much more likely to be fatal when restraints aren’t present; the vehicle stops suddenly and people go flying into the vehicle (or out of it) if they don’t have car seats and seat belts to slow them down.

In contrast, because of how incredibly massive trains are, they don’t tend to stop immediately in collisions, but rather to knock things out of their way while slowing down. Similarly, their massive inertia tends to result in their slowing down relatively slowly, giving passengers time to “ride down” collisions. Of course, trains crashing into other trains in head on collisions can produce the instantaneous stops that occur in head on car collisions, but such collisions are very rare (far, far rarer than vehicular collisions).

So no, car seats can’t be installed on trains, but they also aren’t necessary. You’re considerably more likely to die by lightning strike in a given year than you are to die as a train passenger.

What do you recommend for comfortably carrying infants on a train?

Personally, when traveling on trains with very young children (i.e., infants), we prefer baby-wearing. I like my Pognae, and my wife swears by her Maya Wrap ring sling. She does more baby-carrying than I do, so I’d trust her opinion more if you can’t decide between the two. I’d use either over an infant seat; they’re much lighter and take up far less space.

Thanks for the reassurance Mike. But I’m a worrier! Is there anything I can do to keep my kids just a bit safer when traveling by train?

The most dangerous part of a train is actually outside of it. Most people who die in train-related incidents die by entering the path of a moving train, whether at a railroad track (e.g., in a vehicle trying to beat a train) or at a train station (e.g., falling into the path of a train arriving at a station). The best things you can do for your children are to teach them safety rules involving trains and train tracks.

Children should be taught to stay away from train tracks unless they’re holding hands with adults. When on train platforms, they should not be anywhere near the yellow stripe. When driving, activated train gates and lights should always, always be treated as if trains are imminently approaching.

Amtrak offers a number of personal safety tips for travelers both onboard trains and at the train station. They’re worth reviewing with your children before any train trips.

Remember that the train is a safe and enjoyable way of traveling, and it is my hope that the US will invest more in our rail infrastructure to make it possible to reach more areas of the country by rail, especially given how much of a safer mode of transportation it is than the automobile.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.