How is it that some people can argue with the laws of physics, and countless studies which prove something quite handily? These are people whom I had previously thought were at least somewhat intelligent... at least I didn't think they were complete idiots... Now I've changed my mind.
Look, a 5-point harness is safer for anyone in a crash than a 3-point seatbelt. When you distribute a force over 5 points, the impact is lighter on any given one of those points than it is if you distribute that same force over 3 points. I think I learned that on day one of the most basic college Physics course I ever took. It should be common knowledge. It's common sense! Then when you see a video showing a crash test involving one dummy in a seatbelt and another in a 5-point harness, and upon impact, the dummy in the seatbelt is practically thrown out, whereas the one in the harness barely moves, how COULD you still say that your kids are just as safe in a seatbelt as they would be in a harness?
Hey, my kids are worth the extra effort it takes me to extended harness and extended rear-face. Sorry yours aren't to you.... Sucks to be them.
I mean, I'm not saying I've never been hasty to move my kid on to the next stage. I forward faced Erin at 12 months. I moved her into a booster at the age of 4 1/2, and took her out of a harness at 5. That was before I knew the benefits of extended rear-facing and extended harnessing. I had never even heard of these things until I was pregnant with Orren, and started reading up a little more on the best car seats, and deciding what types of things we wanted to get. That's when I kept seeing these terms, and started to do a little research. The research is pretty damned indisputable. In a crash (which is the important part of a car seat's job) a rear-facing passenger moves as one with the seat, thus eliminating whiplash, concussions, and spinal injuries. A forward-facing harnessed passenger does better in a crash than a 3-point belted passenger due to better distribution of force, and more anchors holding them in place. This is SO OBVIOUS. It is INDISPUTABLE. Yet people argue with me about it, and make up excuses for why they can't rear-face their 1-year-old, or harness their preschooler. No, you just don't want to. There's no reason you can't. If you don't want to, SAY you don't want to, but be honest. You are choosing to put your child in danger every time you drive because you don't want to rear-face your toddler who is within weight tolerance for that, or spend the extra couple hundred bucks for a seat that would harness your elementary schooler.
Absolutely sickening. People like that ARE chicken wire canoes in the truest regard. As water flows into a chicken wire canoe rendering it useless, the holes in these people's logic act similarly.
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