Montreal City Weblog

Kate 18:31 on 2020-01-18 Permalink Reply  

• CharlesQ 14:21 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  On another note, quebeckers are buying more and more SUVs… https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1479030/environnement-vus-achat-ges-changements-climatiques-voitures-quebecois?depuisRecherche=true
  So much for the climate crisis. It’s one thing to buy a car, but buying the biggest one you can find, I don’t get it. I’m sure it’s for the children or something.

• Dhomas 14:54 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  I have 3 car seat aged children. My next car will be an electric that seats 5. I already have 3 car seats that fit side by side for my current ride. I live on the island in a triplex, of which I rent the 2 units I do not occupy. Not everyone with kids is the stereotypical SUV-driving suburbanite you seem to show disdain for, @CharlesQ.

• Kate 15:58 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  Smidge defensive there, Dhomas. CharlesQ is linking to a legit story, which I only didn’t post because it wasn’t specific to Montreal. (I did put it on the EnviroMontreal twitter feed.)

• John B 16:26 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  @Dhomas – how’d you get 3 seats side-by-side? I only have 2 and there’s maybe 8 inches between them in most cars.

  Giant carseats are probably one reason that people get SUVs. Kids are required to be in car seats or on booster seats until they’re 9 now. Many – maybe most – car seats make the seat beside them unusable, and they’re adjusted for a specific kid so it’s not super-easy to put another kid in one. The average sedan gets fairly crowded with anything more than 2 adults + the 2 kids with designated seats.

  If only we had more transit options than the metro that are easy to do with kids.

• Dhomas 18:21 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  @John B: Look for the Diono Radian series (I use the RXT), or, if you have a little more budget the Clek series of car seats. Both fit 3 side by side in the back seat.

  @Kate: I agree that my comment was a little defensive. I often hear people complaining about families, strollers, and their perceived embracing of SUVs and the suburbs. I just want to say that we’re not all bad. 😉

• ant6n 18:27 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  It’s true, eh. Can’t both complain about strollers on the metro and families with cars. Unless you want one parent to stay home at all times.

• CE 19:00 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  Kids have to sit in a car seat until they’re 9?? I don’t even remember when I stopped needing a car seat. For a while I had a booster seat which I think are illegal now. There was a point in my childhood when we got a newer car that had a passenger airbag and I wasn’t allowed to sit in the front anymore until I tuned 12. I remember that seeming like a horrible punishment.

• Dhomas 20:12 on 2020-01-19 Permalink

  @CE: Booster seats are not illegal, but the laws have definitely changed and kids need to have a car seat or booster seat until the age of 9 or 145cm:
  https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/road-safety/behaviours/child-safety-seats/choosing-right-seat-right-time/

  Newer cars also allow you to put kids in the front seat, with an appropriate car seat. You would either need to disable the airbag or it automatically disables itself when it doesn’t detect an adult’s weight. I have a friend who used to put his kid in a Car2go Smart this way, and it was perfectly legal.

• jeather 10:30 on 2020-01-20 Permalink

  Yeah, I understand car safety, but this means that every single family needs to go places separately, you can’t carpool to school, etc. I have no idea how you have friends over. The externalities of more car seats, longer, are not insignificant.

• CE 12:29 on 2020-01-20 Permalink

  My partner’s sister (who lives in Alberta) has three kids and each time she gave birth, she had to show a receipt for a brand new car seat before they would let her leave the hospital with her baby. Apparently she wasn’t allowed to use the old one that her older child had grown out of. Does anyone know if this exists here?

• jeather 13:12 on 2020-01-20 Permalink

  You have to show that you have a car seat that isn’t expired and is valid in Canada, but I know two people who showed their car seats from the first baby and were fine.

• CE 13:21 on 2020-01-20 Permalink

  How many years can you have them before they expire? What if you don’t have a car and never drive, are you still required to have one?

• jeather 13:50 on 2020-01-20 Permalink

  Six years; I don’t know what happens if you say you don’t have a car.

• Ian 14:58 on 2020-01-20 Permalink

  I didn’t have a car until after my second child was born in 2011… baby strollers have a kind of clip-in bassinette deal that can also double as an infant car seat for some models. They don’t sell just carriages anymore.

  If you are super broke and can’t afford one on your own there are community groups and I know some hospitals will even lend them out so you can at least walk you kid home or take a cab. You still don’t need a proper car seat to take a cab for emergency reasons, i.e. if you can’t afford your own car. Older children you can legally strap in on your lap.

  Hospitals do want to see you with a baby carrier of some kind before they send you on your way but they will help you out.