Tag Archives: EU

Child Seat Regulations when driving abroad

childrestraints

If you’re driving abroad this summer be sure to know the child car seat regulations for the country you’re in (and through).

If you are renting a car on holiday abroad, be sure to record and specify the precise age and height of any children travelling with you and to check the hire company (and any airport transfer/collection taxi service) has what you need.

It helps to know the rules for yourself, for added peace of mind so we’ve compiled a handy guide, correct at the time of publication for top holiday destinations.

United Nations Child Restraint Groupings

These are the approved recognised Child Restraint Systems according to UN Regulation No. 44.

car seats

However, you need to be aware of the current variations from country to country for your holiday destination.

Travelling within the EU

Council Directive 91/671/EEC says that children less than 135cm tall (NB: This is 150cm in some countries (see below) must be restrained by a system suited to the child’s physical features and be approved to UN Regulation No. 44/03 standards (see above table).

Screenshot-5

Variations by country are:

France

Children under the age of 10 must travel in an approved child seat or restraint system (see above table).
Rear facing child seats are approved in the front seat but only if the air bag is deactivated.

Spain

Children younger than 12 years or smaller than 135 cm (4ft 5ins) cannot travel as front seat passengers. They must travel in the rear in appropriate child restraint systems (see above table).

Rear facing child seats are allowed in the front seat but only if the air bag is deactivated.

Portugal

Children younger than 12 years or smaller than 135 cm (4ft 5ins) cannot travel as front seat passengers. They must travel in the rear in appropriate child restraint systems (see above table). Rear facing child seats are allowed in the front seat but only if the air bag is deactivated.

Greece

Children younger than 12 years or smaller than 135 cm (4ft 5ins) cannot travel as front seat passengers. They must travel in the rear in appropriate child restraint systems (see above table). Rear facing child seats are allowed in the front seat but only if the air bag is deactivated.

USA

Confusingly, the rules differ from state to state. You can check the US requirements here. In general, most states prefer children under the age of 12 to be seated in the rear of the car. What differs from the EU is that rear-facing seats are mandatory in many states till children are 1 years old (and possibly 2 years old) regardless of weight.

Turkey

Children younger than 10 years or smaller than 135 cm (4ft 5ins) or weighing less than 36kg must use a child-safety seat and sit in the rear seats. Rear facing child seats are allowed in the front seat but only if the air bag is deactivated.

USEFUL LINKS/SOURCES:

United Nations report on Regulation 44

Wikipedia

USA and Canada Child Safety Seat Law Guide
__________________________________________________________

For dedicated motoring support services, information and advice like this, we recommend that women drivers in the UK join FOXY Lady Drivers Club, the only UK motoring support service for women.

What does our Future hold now?

sussex_uni_galaxyLast Saturday I spent time in a planetarium at Sussex University finding out about galaxies, black holes and cosmic strings, being reminded just how small and insignificant we all are in the master plan of the universe.

But it didn’t stop me feeling depressed with the black hole state of things the UK is in after such a seismic and unpredicted referendum result.

And just so I have a record of these times and my thoughts through it all, here are my Top Ten FOXY Pearls of Wisdom I’ve learned during the last week – and they’re not all just about the recent referendum.

1. Never anticipate the outcome of a referendum.

2. Always have a contingency plan for all scenarios.

3. Democracy can mean living with decisions you don’t like.

4. It’s not always appreciated when the ‘usual losers’ are seen to win.

5. Whilst the pound struggles, tourism and manufacturing must exploit competitive advantage.

6. Ageism is on the march again.

7. All forms of racism are abhorrent.

8. Youth prefer the EU status quo vs a DIY future, despite today’s unaffordable housing & university education.

9. Nobody is a good Leader when their team doesn’t respect them.

10. A good Manager tells a football team how to play the game, and clearly England’s wasn’t and didn’t.
___________________________

We live in interesting times. If ever a multi-faceted coalition government was needed to show us how to go forward together, it’s surely now.

I could go on but won’t. We all need to do our bit to steady the financial ship by working hard to see us through.

As we all know, from adversity and challenges come BIG business opportunities and I have no doubt that the motor industry will rise to these ahead of most others.

But let’s not waste time on deja vu thinking and hatred politics, especially where fuelled by social media, in case we miss out on the many global opportunities in future.

FOXY

PS: I think women have something to bring to the party. If you haven’t done this already, why not join the Women’s Equality (WE) party to bring some sense to this all? It’s not just for women, of course, because they’re doing something similar to FOXY – addressing female issues so life gets better for men too.

PPS: For some reason I am reminded of the three word answer Mark Rylance’s character in Bridge of Spies always gave when asked why he wasn’t more depressed by his situation. These were ‘Would It Help?’ The answer was ‘No’ of course – and he was treated fairly in the end. Let’s hope there’s a morale in there somewhere?

No need for young women drivers to despair about car insurance

Call me suspicious but when there’s bad news to be announced it’s usually leaked out under cover of a bigger story.

And what could be a bigger story than Christmas?

The bad news is that the UK Gender Directive arrived on 21 December and it will undoubtedly price many young women drivers off the road as a result.

Some call it D-Day – the D standing for despair presumably, as felt by many young females when they receive their renewal insurance notifications from now on.

I’m not talking so much about rich families because, in most cases, their parents will simply cough up. I’m talking about those that aren’t well off but who scrimped and saved to fund their own driving lessons, test and first car. And all of them young women who are statistically less likely to speed or take risks than their male counterparts…

Was it so unreasonable for them to expect their insurance premiums to reduce not double and more as looks to be the case in future?

The irony is that this gender discrimination has been inflicted on us by the European Court of Justice [sic] and a German Mum of six. Shame on you Juliane Kokott – when we needed you to stick up for your gender you put your career first. Who needs enemies when we can’t even rely on our own sex for support.

The future for car insurance for women

By the New Year we’ll have the new FOXY Lady Insurance website to help. Not just about car insurance it’ll also identify the best deals out there, seen through female eyes. What makes FOXY different is that we’re the UK’s only dedicated female brand for motorists and we’re totally independent. We’ll also be inviting female feedback about insurance services and insurers so we can share this to benefit others. And finally we’ll be promoting insurance agents and brokers who share our wish to provide female friendly insurance services to women in future. At times of change and potential unfairness it’s reassuring to rely on personal service from someone who uderstands.

Because, contrary to Juliane’s principles, equality doesn’t always mean that both genders are the same or that we want to be treated the same when it comes to customer service. So FOXY’ll tackle this service gap so women can rely on us to represent their best interests.

This will be my final blog to vent about this subject. It is clearly EU madness, FOXY was too late to the party to make a difference (this has been in the pipeline for over a decade whereas FOXY arrived in 2005) and it’s now time to move on. Amen.

The FOXY way forward

If, having read this far, you share my indignation, there are three things you could do to help young women, with a view to the future.

1 Please LIKE our FOXY Lady Insurance Page at Facebook.

2 Tell any young female motorists to contact FOXY Lady Insurance if their renewal quote rises unfairly. We’ll try to beat it by introducing them to a FOXY Lady Approved insurance adviser who’ll listen, understand and be well informed about their situation.

3 Bookmark our new website and return to it in the New Year (and tell others to do the same).

Thank you for listening…

FOXY