Most Albertans are generally aware of the risks involved with improperly restraining children when operating a motor vehicle.
However what many people don’t know is that taxis and shuttle vans are exempt from the laws requiring child restraints and car seats.
Car seats are also not a requirement for rental cars being used for a period of less than two weeks.
The exemption has been convenient for a shocking number of parents who, when travelling, do not bring proper restraints for their children to use in commercial vehicles.
Edmonton’s Airport Taxi has recently made car seats part of their company policy; any parent without the proper restraints will be left by the wayside.
Airport Taxi Claims Manager Brion Upton says that the parents should be using better judgement when it comes to their child’s safety.
"You’re entrusting your child’s welfare to someone you don’t know, a total stranger, and you’re not even affording your child proper restraint so that if they get into an accident that they might live."
Since their recent change, the company has received flack from many travelers annoyed by the company’s refusal to transport their children.
Many parents feel that transporting their child without proper restraints is a decision that should not be made by the cab companies.
The Vehicle for Hire Commission’s Leon Lubin supports the exemption, stating that under current Alberta law, it is the parent that assumes all liability for their child when travelling in a commercial vehicle.
"The parent is responsible for their child. Every taxi is supposed to have an anchoring device, but they are exempted from putting the child in the seat or attaching the seat. That is the parent’s responsibility, so they avoid the liability that way."
Despite current legislation, Airport Taxi says that transporting children unsafely just isn’t worth the risk.
The company is calling on the government to amend the law and remove all exemptions for commercial vehicles.
In the meantime, Airport Taxi will be sticking to their new policy and warns parents to be prepared.
"We aren’t going to haul you," Upton states. "No seat, no service."
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