Car Seats and Baby Securement
This was one of my biggest concerns when first going out on the road – the issue of safety. The law above says it all - Children in a moving vehicle must be secured in a moving vehicle. Now the question is, how do you achieve this in a Semi-truck where the seats are set up differently from a standardized car?
Many
of the trucking parents that I have consulted with over the last couple
of years have a tried a lot of different solutions from strapping the
car seat to the floor to bolting it to the back wall. The one I have
found easiest, is to just use the passenger seat.
Semi-trucks have no air bags so the child is not in as much danger in the front seat as they would be in a car. Start by placing the beginner car seat in the passenger seat. The beginner car seat should have instructions for setting up the car seat with a lap belt. Use these instructions with a one inch strap to tie the car seat down to the chair towards the front of the car seat. Then use an animal leash to secure the back of the car seat down to the chair. Put the arm rests down to help hold the car seat in place. This should make the car seat secure by holding it in place from both vertical and horizontal forces.
Note: I have covered the how to set up the booster seat in Toddlers in Trucks.
However, you cannot keep your child in their car seat all the time. They might be alright with it at first, but as they get older they want to explore the world around them. For short periods of time you can put your little one down on the floor on the bottom bunk in the back of the truck. I would recommend doing this out on the highway away from any cities.
On the floor you can put your little one on a nice soft rug for tummy time or to play with their toys. While not the safest it does give the little one the most amount of freedom, and they will need to be watched by a parent not driving just in case of an accident. In the case of such an event the child would be best picked up and rushed to the bunk if possible.
Semi-trucks have no air bags so the child is not in as much danger in the front seat as they would be in a car. Start by placing the beginner car seat in the passenger seat. The beginner car seat should have instructions for setting up the car seat with a lap belt. Use these instructions with a one inch strap to tie the car seat down to the chair towards the front of the car seat. Then use an animal leash to secure the back of the car seat down to the chair. Put the arm rests down to help hold the car seat in place. This should make the car seat secure by holding it in place from both vertical and horizontal forces.
Note: I have covered the how to set up the booster seat in Toddlers in Trucks.
However, you cannot keep your child in their car seat all the time. They might be alright with it at first, but as they get older they want to explore the world around them. For short periods of time you can put your little one down on the floor on the bottom bunk in the back of the truck. I would recommend doing this out on the highway away from any cities.
On the floor you can put your little one on a nice soft rug for tummy time or to play with their toys. While not the safest it does give the little one the most amount of freedom, and they will need to be watched by a parent not driving just in case of an accident. In the case of such an event the child would be best picked up and rushed to the bunk if possible.
If your little one is not moving much yet you can put them on a pillow or just let them hang out on the bunk in the back. As they get older and start to move around you can put the little one in a harness and attach it to the net on the back of the bunk. This gives the little on full range of movement within the space of an arc, preventing him or her from falling off the bed and in an accident holding him or her suspended in the air giving a decent amount of protection. On the bunk they can play games, play with toys, read, watch movies, etc. |
Another option for securement that I have hear mention is to use a Joey Jumper (baby jumper for you foreign people). According to the lady I spoke to, you can run a heavy duty curtain rail, steel pipe, steel wire or nylon rope from one side of the truck to another, making sure that it is well secured in place. The method and location for securing this is dependent on what your truck interior looks like and your own creativity. You slide the jumper on to the rail and use some knots or spacers to secure it in place on the top. Then down below you run two connected small dog leashes through the bottom (where your little one will sit) and secure the seat in place. This will keep your little one safe and secure.