Babies Have a Right to a Safe Seat with Proper Restraints - The Infant Seat Exception Should Be Abandoned

In modern times throughout the world, how can it be that the most fragile and valuable among us, our babies under two years of age, are routinely allowed to fly without the protection provided by safety belts or other age-appropriate restraints? Children under two years of age have been killed in otherwise survivable aviation accidents because they were not given the seats and proper restraints they required. Enabling these deaths are regulations allowing children under two to fly without seats and restraints on commercial and general aviation aircraft. In the United States alone the lack of rules mandating seats and proper restraints for everyone has been sharply criticized by a Presidential Commission, the National Transportation Safety Board, flight attendants, pediatricians, and many other experts. This paper begins by showing some of the avoidable harm current regulations and airline practices have failed to prevent. It then briefly reviews what the world's regulatory authorities, safety authorities, and airlines have done so far to help - and also what they have not done. With this background, the authors reveal why the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other regulators' unwillingness to mandate seats and age-appropriate restraints for people under two is out of step with modern science and unacceptable, calling for governments to legislatively override any regulators who persist in their outmoded and unscientific approach. The authors also evaluate whether, if the stalemate continues, any new legal avenues - such as constitutional challenges to the current regime and punitive damages claims against airlines - might move the issue forward.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/19347170
• Authors:
  • Rapoport, David E
  • Brown, Jan
  • Epstein, Lindsey A
• Publication Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 67-96
• Serial:
  • Issues in Aviation Law and Policy
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: International Aviation Law Institute
  • ISSN: 1934-7170
  • Serial URL: https://las.depaul.edu/centers-and-institutes/chaddick-institute-for-metropolitan-development/research-and-publications/Pages/issues-aviation-law-policy.aspx

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air travel; Aircraft crash victims; Aviation law; Aviation safety; Child restraint systems; Infants; Regulations; Seats
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration; U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Law; Passenger Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01469521
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 17 2013 1:45PM