Kids in the front seat of the car - what age?

[scoutingmom]

12 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

Sorry, I should have specified I meant in the US. When I was in high school I only knew like one student that had a special license at 15... some exception because she had a job. But in general, students got their DL at age 16 or above. But looking it up, I see that 14 is normal for learner's permit in some states. All I can say is... why would you want your 14yr old driving? LOL

 

Not sure about now, but at one point kids often were driving on farms as part of helping.  It also gave them a good 2 years of experience before getting a "full" drivers license.  I put full in quotes because it is now a graduated license.   If we were still in Alberta, I would welcome my 14yo son having a learners permit.  But where we live now he has to by 15.5... if he does the school drivers ed program.

[SKL]

(I lied to my kids and told them our state has a law about it, but in fact it is only a guideline.)

[SKL]

I can't wait for my kids to start driving.  I might feel differently in about 4 years though ....

[Targhee]

14 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

Sorry, I should have specified I meant in the US. When I was in high school I only knew like one student that had a special license at 15... some exception because she had a job. But in general, students got their DL at age 16 or above. But looking it up, I see that 14 is normal for learner's permit in some states. All I can say is... why would you want your 14yr old driving? LOL

My cousins all did because they needed to be able to drive the farm machinery down the road from one field to another.

[Garga]

1 hour ago, kitten18 said:

I know when we’ve had this discussion in the past that someone posted an article about some bone maturity that happens around 13/14 years that makes it a little safer regardless of size.  

My dd isn’t 5’, she’s never going to be 5’ tall but she sits in the front now with the seat as far back as it can go. 

 

I’ll have to look, but I thought the bones didn’t get heavy enough until 16. Until they, going from memory, they can splinter easier than after then.  So, if you get hit in the face with an airbag at age 14, you could have some serious fractures, as opposted to at 16 and older.  

Off to google..

ETA: Back from googling.  Looks like hip bones are good by 13 (for the lap belt), but the sternum can take until age 17 to fully mature (for the chest strap.)  I didn’t see anything about the face bones. 

My kids don’t ride in the front until 16, but maybe I can lower that.  We’ve been waiting for their bones to finish getting strong enough.  Don’t want kids with shattered cheek bones if the airbag hits them.

https://www.kckidsdoc.com/kc-kids-doc/back-seat-until-13-why-your-pre-teen-should-get-the-back-seat

 

[aggieamy]

49 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

Sorry, I should have specified I meant in the US. When I was in high school I only knew like one student that had a special license at 15... some exception because she had a job. But in general, students got their DL at age 16 or above. But looking it up, I see that 14 is normal for learner's permit in some states. All I can say is... why would you want your 14yr old driving? LOL

 

31 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

I know there are reasons you may want your 14yr old driving. It was more of a joke because I picture the teens getting in cars together and going out being silly or careless. Not all teens are like that, I know. Personally, I was scared to drive and waited til 12th grade for driver's ed.

In Kansas we get permits at 14. Drive to work and school at 15. License at 16.

DD is a tall kid and we had her sitting up front around ten years old. I don't think we ever decided it was going to work like that. One day we were going to the store and she got in the front seat and that was that. 

I think it's important for children to sit in the front seat long before they're driving from a safe driving standpoint. They learn directions to places. They watch their parents drive. They see how traffic signals work. What to do in work zones. How to merge. How to do roundabouts. If kids are sitting in the back seat of the car then they aren't actually watching anyone drive. I would be incredibly nervous to have a 14 year old driving who has never really watched anyone drive. 

That's just from a traffic safety standpoint though. I understand about bone density and all that. 

Let's be honest here though. We spend a lot of time talking about safe driving with kids but the safest thing we can do for them is TO NEVER TOUCH OUR CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING. If you want to look at some terrifying statistics looks at the number of distracted driving accidents. Or worse yet ... the fact that our traffic fatalities are steadily increasing. 

It's a scary world to be driving in.

(Disclaimer. I'm a civil engineer that specializes in traffic engineering. Safe driving is one of my soap boxes.)

I thought of something else. It's important to me that DD starts driving young so we can get her as many hours of supervised driving time as possible. If she starts at 14 then by the time she goes off to college she's been driving with mom or dad in the car for four years. If she starts when she's a senior in high school then she only get one year of supervised driving time. That's not nearly enough. 

[Wheres Toto]

16 hours ago, SKL said:

Well ... my kids were happily compliant at 10yo also.  They will be in 7th grade when they turn 12 and are well into puberty.  One of them is as tall as many adults.  I can't find statistics that tell how 12yo is different from 13yo as far as this goes.  I would really like to see something more specific than "kids 12 and under bla bla bla" as that includes toddlers etc.  It also includes kids who are not wearing seat belts (as is the case in the linked video).  I wish I could see the actual incremental risk between a 12yo girl, in a seatbelt, sitting in the front seat versus the back seat.

Mostly I am annoyed that they keep changing the guideline.  I have educated my kids for years about the front seat age limit, but I have lost credibility since they have moved the age at least 2x over a few years.

Anyway, lucky for me I have 2 kids and I can say they need to sit together back there so I don't have to hear any fusses about whose turn it is to sit up front.

I would think it  would have more to do with puberty than just age.    Wouldn't a 12 year old not going through puberty yet have less developed bones than a 10 year old who started a year ago?

I hate how contradictory the information is.  My kids both ride in the front seat occasionally.  Not driving on highways usually and our 2015 Pilot has airbag sensors that adjust (I see the light for 'side airbag not active' occasionally).  Seat is as back as far as it will go, upright and seat belt worn correctly or they're out.  Both started puberty at least a year ago.  My 12 year old son is now about 5'6", he just overtook me.  My 10 1/2 year old daughter is about 5 foot 1".  Neither have a petite build, they are both pretty solid.  They both weigh between 105 and 115 pounds.

[Pamela H in Texas]

13 years AND 110 pounds (though I could see changing the weight requirement since some of my kids might not make that full grown). These are the same requirements I had for my oldest kids who turned 13 over a decade ago. I haven't seen any different standards to make me reconsider.

Since 50% of 10yos should be in a carseat still, I have no problem with pushing back moving to the front seat. 

Drives me batty to see elementary kids in the front seat of the car when they should still be in boosters (at least!  Many times the younger ones should still be in 5 points!).  Parents would never forgive themselves for a severe injury or death they could have prevented.  Sometimes, maybe it is necessary to bend guidelines, but not usually.  Why chance it?  

As mentioned, we might change the weight requirement at some point.  We also let them out of booster seats in middle school.  I can be reasonable.  But most 8yos belong in booster seats in the backseat (period, imo).

I don't share my opinion unless asked though.  ?

[Arcadia]

My DS13 (5’11”, 110lbs) doesn’t want to sit in front even though he has to slouch in the back seat. We were hit on the front passenger side by a lady backing out her car too fast in the parking lot without looking. My front passenger door had to be replaced as it was obviously dented lengthwise.

The DMV manual says children can be in front if all the backseats are used up by younger children. 

My kids teacher gave us a ride when my husband was out of town. She ask the tallest person to take the front seat because of leg room. My DS13 went immediately to the back since he is used to adults taking the front seat. 

We do have quite a few side impact collisions locally because of people speeding to beat the red light or even speeding when the light has already turned red. Being rear ended by another car was actually less scary to my kids because of the car trunk being a crush zone.