# Who rides in front when an elderly relative is a passenger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 9, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412 "2017-10-09T23:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/41 "2017-10-12T00:15:07Z")
Sure I’m serious. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/42 "2017-10-12T02:39:20Z")
FWIW, I normally sit in the front with my spouse and others go in the back unless they have particularly long legs. I can’t pinpoint exactly why. It is partly, “this is our car” and it is partly “we’d like to sit together”, it is also partly “we are driving in our town and it’s easier to navigate if we are sitting next to each other.” That said, my parents and in-laws have all been in their mid 60’s at the oldest and are as fit and capable of getting in and out of a car as anyone else so there’s never been any reason for them to sit in the front. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/43 "2017-10-12T02:41:52Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’m fully willing to accept the obvious, that this “norm” is a minority position, at least on this board (I assume most regions are covered here, but there are likely to be social classes not well represented). The experiences I’ve had are many, over more than four decades of life (okay, maybe I can’t quite remember all four, but close). The husband and wife (as noted in my OP, I honor other combinations, including a very good pair of friends who are lesbian spouses, but this is the one it’s always been when I’ve observed it) sit in the front, next to each other, regardless of who’s in tow. I never specifically asked, but I always got the impression it was less “this is our car, we get the front, suck it” and more “we’re married, so it would feel/look like we’re estranged if we don’t sit next to each other, and one of us is driving, so…”. Yeah, I’m really worried that someone would see me sitting in back with my son, my husband driving, and a treasured elder in the front passenger seat, and jump to the conclusion that our marriage was in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/44 "2017-10-12T02:47:34Z")
My son in law sit or daughter will sit in the back seat when I am with them in their car b/c is easier for me to get out of the car being in the front than the back . ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/45 "2017-10-12T07:24:00Z")
I’ve got a wife and two kids, and when we drive around with my mother in law, she sits in the back with the kids. She’s not particular old or frail though - I don’t remember ever driving anyone actually frail with an otherwise car full. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/46 "2017-10-12T07:47:54Z")
Yeah, kids is another consideration. Grandparents would often prefer to sit next to the little ones in the back. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/47 "2017-10-13T00:39:30Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > FWIW, I normally sit in the front with my spouse and others go in the back unless they have particularly long legs. I can’t pinpoint exactly why. It is partly, “this is our car” and it is partly “we’d like to sit together”, it is also partly “we are driving in our town and it’s easier to navigate if we are sitting next to each other.” > > That said, my parents and in-laws have all been in their mid 60’s at the oldest and are as fit and capable of getting in and out of a car as anyone else so there’s never been any reason for them to sit in the front. > [@Teuton](#): > > I’ve got a wife and two kids, and when we drive around with my mother in law, she sits in the back with the kids. She’s not particular old or frail though - I don’t remember ever driving anyone actually frail with an otherwise car full. As I said in the OP, “Assume they are fairly spry, and the vehicle is four-door and not super hard to get in and out of.” So do you two operate this way because it has been what others around you tend to do? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412/48 "2017-10-13T03:54:58Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So do you two operate this way because it has been what others around you tend to do? I don’t do it because other people do it, but I haven’t noticed other people doing something different. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-rides-in-front-when-an-elderly-relative-is-a-passenger/798412.md?page=2)