I need a suggestion on securing Mom in her seat while I'm driving.
This is going to sound bonkers. I get it. My mother’s license is currently suspended. She would say it’s for taking a nap. But she really drove to a store, parked, fell asleep behind the wheel slumped over the wheel. Several passerbys tried to wake her by knocking on the window. She woke up and was able to respond but fell back to sleep until the next person knocked on the window. This occurred over three hours.
She is is being evaluated for sleep disorders. She is always sleepy. Every single time we get in the car, within minutes she falls asleep. Because she has scoliosis, she starts to slowly fall forward to the left. The seatbelt restrains her for the most part, but she ends up with her head inches away from the gear shift, just hovering held up by the seatbelt. I constantly have to either wake her or push her away from the gear. Sometimes she ends up with her face buried in my arm...that I’m trying to drive with. Within minutes she is right back there. When I do wake here she lies and says she’s not sleeping. It’s obvious she is sleeping but she still lies. Different issue, but it adds to the frustration.
This is quite obviously a hazard. I drive a Mini. Getting her in the back would be cumbersome and of course I want her to be comfortable. I’m not trying to punish her. But I also need to drive safely. Her hovering over the gear is a distraction. Having to gently push her away from the gear shift while I am driving is a distraction. I’m afraid that one day she will actually end up on the gear shift and push it out of gear while I am driving.
I am looking for suggestions on securing her in the seat to stay away from the center console, away from the gear and away from me so I can safely drive. I am trying to be sensitive to her situation. But it is incredibly frustrating to deal with this every time we get into car. I need some creative problem solving with this one.
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Best solutions: 1) Get an automatic car. 2) Have a look for straps that are used to keep people upright in wheel chairs and stop slumping. They go behind the seat, and usually have a clip fastening in front just below bust level. Tony has seen DIY options made from old seat belt webbing and clasps, but thinks there are probably commercial options. The seat belt must go on top – they aren’t safety devices. 3) Make your own by stitching a strong wide tape to a seat cover, continuous across the back of the seat for strength and fastening in front with large velcro pads. Once again, the seat belt goes on top. 4) Find an old-fashioned non-retractable seat belt and have it fitted in place of the roll-out one.
Other solutions, mostly illegal: 5) Racing harnesses are 4-point, and anchor to the car floor behind the seat. The fittings are a problem for back seat passengers, and new ones are expensive to buy and fit. Selling or fitting second hand ones is illegal, but it is often done in amateur racing circles where blokes construct and deconstruct modified vehicles (obviously not after an accident). It probably depends on whether you have the right contacts. 6) Fit a clamp to the existing seat belt so that it cannot roll out further than needed to strap in your mother. The difficulties with this is that anything that goes through the belt webbing will probably weaken it, and the clamp might cause problems when it retracts. It is almost certainly illegal to modify a seat belt in any way for safety reasons, but your situation is a safety issue already.
This is the first time my husband has taken much interest in any posts on the site, so thanks! I hope it helps.
I’m going to have figure something out that will allow me strap her in around the chest, but you have some good ideas here that I think I’ll look into. I’m usually pretty creative with the problem solving but this one has stumped me. Trying to be respectful of her space and dignity balanced with my need to drive without the added distractions has been...well, frustrating. Perhaps my frustrations has clouded the logical side of my brain.
I’ll definitely look into some of these suggestions. Thank you so much. It was very helpful. Thanks to you and engineer Tony.
Do you have access to an occupational therapist? This is the sort of thing they might be able to help with.
Good luck