Hotetov.com

Not too long ago, the three letters GPS would be meaningless to most consumers.  Today, you would be hard pressed to find anyone of driving age that isn’t familiar with GPS mobile navigation.

I remember when the early consumer GPS software was loaded onto a notebook PC.  You had to balance the notebook on your front seat of your vehicle with a rather large antenna set up on your dash for satellite reception.  Although it was clumsy, it was a preview into the many uses that GPS was going to provide in the future.  Modern GPS navigation systems have become almost a necessity for many drivers. 

You can find dozens of brands of GPS units on the market but they all have some things in common.  The most popular units come with mounts for dash or windshield mounting.  You can purchase exterior mounted antennas but in most cases the units perform fine when mounted on the upper dash near the windsheld.  The newer models are easy to operate and most will find their satellite positioning in a matter of seconds. 

After experimenting with several different brands, I recommend the TomTom GPS navigation system for most users.  The TomTom series is relatively inexpensive and simple to use.  The TomTom One and the XL series offers just about everything you could desire in GPS vehicle navigation.

After a recent visit to Worcester by Train, one of our regular customers contacted us to ask about child car seats and where we stand as Taxi Drivers and the new UK child seat laws and restrictions. Ms Jones and her young daughter were sent away from a Worcester Taxi Rank for not having the correct baby car seat with her.

The Cheltenham Taxi website is of the view that the Worcester Taxi driver involved was properly a bit keen when it comes to road safety, or may not have been aware of the exemptions for Children who travel via Taxi. It can be a hard shout for Taxi drivers, as they are legally responsible for ensuring children under 14 are belted up correctly whilst travelling in their Taxi.

Children are exempt from the child car seats laws whilst travelling in a taxi, as long as a certain criteria is met:

Children under 3 may sit on an adults lap in the rear of a Taxi, as long as the adult is wearing a seatbelt –the seatbelt must only be around the adult and not the baby.

Children 3 years and over may sit in the rear of a taxi using just the seatbelt, if the correct baby car seat or booster seat for the child’s age and weight is not available.

No child under the age of 13 and less than 135cm in height may travel in the front seat of a taxi.

If you are planning a Taxi journey for an advanced date, there maybe sufficient time to arrange for the correct child car seats to be available.

It would be un-reasonable to expect a Taxi to carry 8-10 different baby, child and booster seats with them, just as it would be un-reasonable for a family using public transport to carry baby car seats with them whist travelling.

If you booked a Cheltenham Taxi in advance to take you and a child to the airport, we would be more than happy to hold on to your baby car seat for you and make it available for you on the return journey.

Disclaimer.

This is not safety advice for your children when using a Taxi service, it just our interpretation of current UK child seat legislation. If you need advice, please contact your local road safety unit at your local authority.

http://otrjuice.info