Rule for dogs driving in taxis?

[hollysh]

Been trying to find an answer online but only seems to be directed at what it means for the taxi driver...

Putting a dog in your car, there are rules about dog seatbelts and crates. When going in a taxi with a dog are you meant to provide these yourselves? Obviously the taxi driver doesn't mention this or the controller.
Just wondered what the legalities were.

 

[JudyN]

That's an interesting question. What I have found is that a taxi driver isn't obliged to take a dog unless it's an assistance dog, so equally wouldn't be obliged to provide restraint for a non-assistance dog.

However, are they legally required to provide restraint for an assistance dog? I can't find an answer, but as the type of restraint needed would be different for different-sized dogs, it would make sense that it was the owner's responsibility to provide it. Apparently the assistance dog should go on the floor, not the seats, which raises the question of what happens if they don't fit.

 

[hollysh]

yes I transported a dog today via taxi and the taxi driver said she wasn't allowed on the seat. I sat her on my lap and put my seatbelt around her.

 

[Lennor Magill]

Been trying to find an answer online but only seems to be directed at what it means for the taxi driver...

Putting a dog in your car, there are rules about dog seatbelts and crates. When going in a taxi with a dog are you meant to provide these yourselves? Obviously the taxi driver doesn't mention this or the controller.
Just wondered what the legalities were.

I quite often use taxi when going to the vet hospital. The company ( dog friendly company) i use advise me to bring a cover for the seat and a dog seatbelt attachment.
The seatbelt is a legal requirement I'm told

 

[leashedForLife]

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Ummm... @hollysh , I hesitate to say this, but no one can “share” their seat-belt by putting it around another person. Seat-belts are single occupancy, only - any shared use is not only futile, it’s downright dangerous.

Physics is very unforgiving - everything in a car is traveling at the SPEED that the car is traveling, & any sudden halt or change in direction [e-g, being struck by another vehicle & forced into a different travel lane] doesn’t slow down the occupants, whether they are animate or inanimate objects. They keep moving in the direction they were already going, & for a time, at the same speed they were previously moving.

In any accident, even a low-speed abrupt stop or a brief skid, 2 parties who are enclosed by a single restraint will be flung about by uncontrollable forces in various directions, due to momentum, their own respective weights, the angles of former travel vs the forces directed at the vehicle, etc.
Their bodies will collide, & the smaller and more fragile one will be injured, possibly fatally, or simply be unable to breathe due to the pressure of the other body squeezed against them. // In a dog, I would expect to see rib fractures, pelvic or limb fractures, soft tissue injuries, a ruptured diaphragm or spleen, kidneys bruised or bleeding liver, etc. Being squashed & unable to draw a breath may not leave a mark, but it can quickly be fatal.

If U want to take Ur dog along in a taxi, i would carry a seat cover [folded] that will cover both seat under the dog, & back of seat BEHIND the dog, & i’d ask the driver for permission to deploy the [clean, hair-free] cover to protect the seat, B4 putting my dog onto said seat.
Then i’d hook in a seat-belt adapter for my dog’s harness [already on the dog], & voila! - safe travels.

FOR SMALL DOGS under 20 to 25#, a shipping crate [airline-approved solid clamshell type] is the ultimate safe transport choice. The clean crate can easily be put onto the seat & belted in, just like any other luggage.

If I am traveling with a medium to large dog, s/he is actually safer on the floor, if I cannot put them into a properly belted harness with an adapter, connected to a seat-belt which is secured to the car’s frame.
Sitting or lying on the car seat UNRESTRAINED is just a better launching pad for a canine missile in the car. SItting or preferably lying down on the floor, again on a simple clean cover that I bring along with me, is much, much safer for the dog, & also for any other passengers in the car.


Be a Scout - “always prepared”. Safe travels,
- terry

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