We had a rear facing seat for my children up to age 3 or 4. I could see how much safer it was by the comparison when I did an emergency stop with a friends son (aged 11 months) in his forward facing seat next to my daughter. His head was flung forward and then back in his seat. Hers was cushioned by her seat and the force pushed her back into the seat not out of it. While the opposite is true of a rear collision, you are unlikely to have a rear collision at high speed compared to a front collision. Rear facing seats up to age 4 will become law one day I'm sure of it. People are put off because they think of a baby seat and say 'they won't be able to see anything', in fact the seat is bigger and higher, so they can see out of the rear windscreen as well as side windows, unlike a child facing forwards staring at the back of the front seat. Just takes a few years for us to catch up with Scandanavia. This is not new research it has been proven and accepted there for years.
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