Carseat in taxis?
 

We are flying to Las Vegas and won't be taking our carseat with us on the plane, 8 month old will sit on our laps. Do I need a carseat for the taxi's?

Please put baby safety over convenience and bring a car seat. I teach parenting classes and we show a film of a crash test infant being held by a parent in a 30 mph crash and it is enough to turn your stomach. 99.99% of the time you would be fine holding an infant, but you would never forgive yourselves if there were an accident. Have a wonderful trip!!

This depends on the city, some require a seat, some don't. Check with the cityhall, maybe? Should be a "contact us" address or phone number on the Internet.

This is the URL

http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/index.htm

And the only requirement I was able to find is this:

The maximum number of passengers allowed in any taxi is five (5), including infants and children.

Maybe the law to have a car seat is only for rented cars, not for taxis?

I don't know about NV, but in CA you have to have a car seat for the taxi ride to the airport/and back. We bought a combination carseat/stroller for our grandchild for this purpose. (example below) It fits in an airline seat as well. If you did not buy your baby a ticket, then they check it in at the door to the plane, and it is waiting for you when you get off the plane. Our son uses it as an extra car seat in his car the rest of the year.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B0006UF43M

http://www.inventiveparent.com/lawsreg9.htm#Nevada

You are not required by law to use a car seat in a taxi. See section 5 for exceptions to Nevada's car seat laws. This site also has laws compiled for most other states.

Many parents in cities do ride in cabs with their infants without car seats. It's a personal choice whether or not you are comfortable doing that. If you do, though, please remember not to buckle your child into the seatbelt with you. If you do and are in an accident, you risk crushing your child between you and the belt.

Most cities don't require carseats in taxi's. It's highly unusual to see anyone using one in NYC (in fact, I've never seen it), I would imagine it would be the same for Vegas.

I've never seen a car seat in a taxi in San Francisco.

Actually, I've never seen a child in a taxi in San Francisco!

Really, Faina? I used to live in San Francisco, and I used car seats in cabs when my car was in the shop or whatever, and so did all my friends. When I visited with my baby, we used one of those convertible stroller/carseat combos that was talked about on a thread a week or so ago.

Ok...I live in Vegas and regardless of what the law says, yes you will want to put your baby in a car seat. If they made them for adults in taxis I would advise them to be in them as well. I used to work valet at a major hotel on the Strip and have seen plenty of taxis speeding on the grounds of the hotels, let alone outside on the roadways. It is not only the cab drivers that you need to think about, but we have pedestrians getting hit left and right because many don't use crosswalks, and guess who hits them...cabs! Traffic in Vegas is pretty brutal, put the baby in a car seat. Take it with you!! When we travel ( we have 4-year old twins and a 2-year old), we take "3" car seats with us, sure it is a hassle trying to balance 3 car seats, 2 suitcases, 3 carry on bags, a diaper bag and a stroller on a little luggage trolley at the airport....but it is worth it.

Faina~that is weird that you say you have never seen a car seat in a taxi in SF. When we went to SF our twins were 5 months old. We rode a cable car to the shopping area with plans of riding it back. When we came out the line for cable cars was a forever wait, so we went to get a taxi to take us to the Exploratorium. The cab driver said he could NOT take us without car seats. So, we rented a limo because they do not require car seats. I was so nervous the entire ride over to the Exploratorium, that I said "never again", and so...we walked back to our hotel from the Exploratorium, took us about an hour. Since then, we have always taken our seats with us.