Asleep in her seat.. When we were looking around for a camper van to travel Australia in, one of the most confusing and frustrating parts was trying to understand how we could legally travel with Gypsy in it.
At first we thought we needed to find one with 2 rows of seats so Gypsy could sit behind us,, which mind you is near impossible. Even in the "coaster" style vans the back seats were just bus seats and didn't have anchor points.
So after a lot of research, when we discovered that it was in fact legal for her to sit in the front seat IF there was only 1 row of seats we were relieved! Finally there was a light at the end of the tunnel. We were beginning to think our only option was a car with a caravan which was not going to be practical for us..
With this new information at hand we started looking for motorhomes and camper vans with 3 front seats. Only maybe 1 in 10 motorhomes/campervans has 3 front seats. And even if they do have 3, most of the time they don't have anchor points. No problem we thought, we will get one installed! easy!?!
No..
It's actually super expensive to get an anchor point installed. We were quoted "anywhere between $500 and $1000 depending on whether we need to replace the seat as well."
Oh wow..
That's a lot...
So when we found NED, with his 3 seats and anchor point, we were understandably excited! And to be honest, it was probably the deciding factor in purchasing him.
And so, Gypsy sits in her child seat, in the front seat with us! It works for us.
I don't want to enter a debate about whether you should put your child in the front seat or not, everybody is entitled to their opinion and i'm sure some people wouldn't agree with our decision to do so. But this article is about explaining the legalities of seating so that others can make their own decisions.
At first we thought we needed to find one with 2 rows of seats so Gypsy could sit behind us,, which mind you is near impossible. Even in the "coaster" style vans the back seats were just bus seats and didn't have anchor points.
So after a lot of research, when we discovered that it was in fact legal for her to sit in the front seat IF there was only 1 row of seats we were relieved! Finally there was a light at the end of the tunnel. We were beginning to think our only option was a car with a caravan which was not going to be practical for us..
With this new information at hand we started looking for motorhomes and camper vans with 3 front seats. Only maybe 1 in 10 motorhomes/campervans has 3 front seats. And even if they do have 3, most of the time they don't have anchor points. No problem we thought, we will get one installed! easy!?!
No..
It's actually super expensive to get an anchor point installed. We were quoted "anywhere between $500 and $1000 depending on whether we need to replace the seat as well."
Oh wow..
That's a lot...
So when we found NED, with his 3 seats and anchor point, we were understandably excited! And to be honest, it was probably the deciding factor in purchasing him.
And so, Gypsy sits in her child seat, in the front seat with us! It works for us.
I don't want to enter a debate about whether you should put your child in the front seat or not, everybody is entitled to their opinion and i'm sure some people wouldn't agree with our decision to do so. But this article is about explaining the legalities of seating so that others can make their own decisions.
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