Singapore Expats

Our little family will be moving from Australia to Singapore this coming January when our daughter has just turned 1. After searching the site, there is a lot of info for how to travel safely in taxi with a baby capsule / baby carrier for when they are little, but no information on what to do when they are larger!

Our daughter is currently forward facing in her Safe n Sound Meridian car seat (she's tall!) and I would love some answers on how to travel safely in a taxi : Can I use my car seat? (from airport to hotel, obviously not to the shops unless I want to lug around a car seat!!) Is there a taxi service that is fitted with car seats? Any help appreciated!

No, unlike Australia there is no obligation on taxis to have car seat and most do not have anchor points - I have not seen them in any taxi.
Most people here, horrifyingly, just allow their children to walk around the car. Even the older ones do not use seat belts. And you often see children being held on the lap of someone in the passenger front seat. I tried to explain once how dangerous this was and they just blurted out the line that it was the safest way because they would hold onto the baby - I mean really.. surely the basics of the forces of an accident would be known to most. There are even people here that put a seatbelt around them and the baby.
So, yes, you can bring your capsule in taxi and would be safer than not - even without anchor points.
But, having said all the above, and even though the drivers here are pretty dire, there are very few high speed accidents - most are low speed low impact.
I got by when I had younger ones, by putting them in adults seat belt - even when they were one year old. It was better than nothing.

If I recall the power that be decided it was not worth spending the extra cash for an Airbag for the divers... So if they don't care about the drivers, passengers have no hope.

Yikes! That's what I thought. Unfortunately we don't have a capsule (she will be too big) just a car seat that you need the anchor points for. If somebody actually started a new 'on call' taxi service that always had at least one forward facing baby car seat they would be rich based on the amount of business they would get from expats (and maybe even locals who catch on that not restraining your kid is dangerous)!

Any others who have overcome this problem? Or is it just a case of avoid taxis where possible?!

We use public transport.

We avoid taxi's as much as possible for this reason and my wife suffers from travel sickness. I think the MRT is a very good service and takes us pretty much everywhere we want to go.

When we do take a taxi I just pray! There is no easy solution with a little one.

As far as traveling on buses around Singapore with babies/toddlers go, I've heard different things from different drivers. My son has a car seat that clips in/out from his stroller base. Sometimes the bus drivers let him stay in his car seat/stroller while riding, which is nice. Some have said he can stay in the seat portion if I collapse the stroller base, which is ok. Others say to take him out and hold him and collapse both the car seat and stroller. That seems unsafe and it's hard to hold a squirming toddler, especially on a long ride. On the other hand, if a bus gets into a collision with a car, the bus will "win."

Thanks everyone! MRT it is. And on the occasions we need to use taxis....fingers crossed.

I have a small 3 yo. When in taxis I put her in the back on the right hand side and belt her in. I used to put her in the middle but the problem is she could be propelled forward between the two front seats in a hard stop. On the right hand side she will most likely slide down into the foot well in an accident. I chose the right hand side because we get in on the left usually and I want her in first and out last. The left hand side also seems to be the side more often hit in my informal survey of accidents here.

The taxi drivers here are not professional drivers at all, they have terrible foresight, no training in skid control AFAIK, poor braking and throttle control (some of them drive like they're on a motorbike - always on the throttle or brake), and are often distracted by shiny objects. It's a job reserved (by law) for the unemployed Singapore citizens who can't get a job doing anything else and as such it attracts the dregs of society (although not the criminal elements as in some countries). Don't feel bad about yelling at them to slow down, watch out, get off their damn mobile or shut the hell up and look front.

As a driver and bike rider Taxis are like Volvos in Australia, best kept a distance from (here the equivelant brand is BMW, just bad drivers usually).

Yes, BMW drivers are the ones to steer clear of - especially when they are black BMWs or one with an 'E' (for establishment - long term singapore car owners) reg car. Only to be outdone by the new breed of black Audis.

katbh wrote:Yes, BMW drivers are the ones to steer clear of - especially when they are black BMWs or one with an 'E' (for establishment - long term singapore car owners) reg car. Only to be outdone by the new breed of black Audis.

http://youtu.be/Q-Mi2GpST54

Proof is here.

I didn't know that E stood for that... (or is that your own warning symbol). I always figure the less numbers in the plate, the more dangerous (due to age, imagined status, divine lucky numbers) they are....

My first two cars here were E plates EA & ED, then when I bought my Mini-Cooper Mk1 it had the older series S plate (ST) The E series were followed by the current three letter S plates.

Pennywhistle wrote:Our little family will be moving from Australia to Singapore this coming January when our daughter has just turned 1. After searching the site, there is a lot of info for how to travel safely in taxi with a baby capsule / baby carrier for when they are little, but no information on what to do when they are larger!

Our daughter is currently forward facing in her Safe n Sound Meridian car seat (she's tall!) and I would love some answers on how to travel safely in a taxi : Can I use my car seat?

Yes, as long as it fits but only without isofix so it's hardly practical (with isofix is hardly practical too).

(from airport to hotel, obviously not to the shops unless I want to lug around a car seat!!) Is there a taxi service that is fitted with car seats? Any help appreciated!

no such services. The easy and only universal solution is to buy your own car. We did it for this purpose alone. Unfortunately this is not a cheap solution.

Alternatively, when she is a bit older there are some vests that can be bought (not in SG) and have a reasonable safety rating. They are not (that) rigid so no full protection also from the sides etc. We have this one as a backup when we travel abroad.:


google safe traffic system ride travel vest

There the Eddie Baur seat that's transportable, you can buy them in First Fiew Years at Paragon (if they still sell them) or you can hire one from the Toy Rental Cllub (http://www.toyrentalclub.com/carseats.html)

I would insert image but no idea how to on this forum.


Inserted by Moderator

We have been holding our toddler in taxis and praying / crossing fingers / etc. It seems highly unsatisfactory, especially with generally poor driving safety of most taxi drivers, but a difficult call to go and buy a car primarily for this reason, and also very limiting to use public transport only.