Recently, the mom went to a free carseat clinic put on by the local police department. After checking the car seat installation, the officer told her that baby mirrors are a safety hazard. In a crash, the mirror could detach and become projectile, hitting the baby or the other passengers of the car. Instead, he told her, "If you want to check the baby, have someone ride in back, or just pull over. If you are looking at the baby mirror, you aren't looking at the road".
This is an excellent point, and one that I did not think of before.
If you do want a baby mirror, I would consider a hard-mount, maybe by screwing the base onto the rear pillar, or bolting it down through the rear deck.
3 comments:
Not to mention that it directs the baby's eyes and attention into a direction that might be directly torward the sun...
Actually, my fire dept told me that the mirrors were a safety hazard as well. The reason he gave was that in an accident, a rear-facing seat is designed to lift from the front (near the baby's head) and hug the back of the seat (so the seat actually rotates up 90 degrees). If you have a mirror on the back of the seat, it will squish into your baby's face and possibly hurt it. He said you don't want anything between the seat and the baby (he also said you should drive with the handle of the carseat down and any toys on the handle should be tucked away so they don't interfere in a crash).
I find these arguments extremely odd. I have a baby mirror so that I DON'T cause a wreck. Pulling over to check on baby every minute or two is just not an option. If you know how to glance at the radio or a passenger when you are driving then you can safely glance at the baby.
I'm also not sure about the projectile thing since my mirror attachs to the glass and is therefore not likely to be hit by the baby. Maybe I am missing something.
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