The NSW Government has decided it will be an offence for a taxi driver to carry a baby without a baby capsule or a baby seat. The driver can be fined $103. Under the regulation taxi drivers will not be required to provide the capsule.
The question is whether the ACT should follow the NSW lead. The NSW regulation does not appear to have been thought through. Of course, it is safer for a baby to be restrained in a motor vehicle. That being the case, it makes sense to require babies in private vehicles to be restrained, because typically, these are driven by the parents of the child who could be expected to fit their cars with the capsules. Forcing such an arrangement means that babies will be restrained most of the time.
But taxi rides are different. Typically, they are one-off events, often not predicted. They are not parents’ usual mode of transport.
Like all safety regulations, there is a question of balance of convenience. Cars could be restricted to 5km/h will all passengers in full harness seat belts and crash helmets in order to reduce the road toll, but the cost would be too high. In the case of requiring baby capsules in taxis, it means, in effect, that parents with babies will not be able to travel in taxis. They will have to travel on buses … in which there are no restraints, or to walk, which is even more dangerous. The regulators think the choice is between a capsuled ride or a non-capsuled ride. Not so. The real effect will be to lock parents and their babies out of taxis which will be more inconvenient and unsafe than leaving things as they are.
The record of taxis in the ACT is very good. The balance of convenience suggests that the extension of the capsule requirement to taxis is unwarranted.