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Most people take things like carseats and child safety pretty seriously, which is why most were shocked at this video. It shows a person driving a pickup truck in Kansas with two young kids strapped into their carseats…in the bed.
The video was recoded on Route 54 outside of Wichita, Kansas and uploaded to SnapChat. The caption read “tf is this is even allowed.”
As it turns out…well, it is.
It looks like the driver just bolted two regular carseats to the bed of his truck, and that would definitely not be legal.
What those are, though, are jump seats courtesy of a now-defunct company called BedRyder. They specialized in adding legal, al fresco seating for full and mid-size pickup trucks.
Truly.
They sold a $750 frame-and-seat combo that bolts to the floor of the bed – the result of a decade of trying to get off and ground and one unsuccessful appearance on Shark Tank.
Founders George Conway and Carey Hide developed the product because of the fond memories they had of riding in the backs of pickup trucks growing up – something their kids were going to be denied by those pesky safety regulations – so the BedRyder meets all U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
It’s legal in all 50 states, shockingly.
People want to be outraged on behalf of the children (of course), but as someone who is old enough to have gotten to ride in the bed of a pickup truck (in a rural area for a short drive), I promise you that these children are not complaining.
Also? In Kansas anyone over the age of 14 can ride anywhere in the bed of a pickup truck – no restraints necessary.
Here’s the law:
“It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of 14 years to ride on any vehicle or upon any portion thereof not designed or intended for use of passengers when the vehicle is in motion.”
Sooooo although this is maybe a gray area, the federally-approved jump seats are designed to carry people, so it’s likely legal enough to get by.
If whether or not you get a ticket is your biggest concern here.
Still, we admit that brandishing the safety credentials of a defunct company might not convince a skeptical state trooper like the one who tweeted out the relevant section of the Kansas code in response to this video’s spread. It might best to save the BedRyder for surface streets.
