You can see videos on You Tube of forward facing vs rear facing seats - run by sophisticated and legitimate labs - they make an extremely compelling case - and they have nothing to do with distance to the hospital etc - but rather severity of injury - ERF is so much safer! There are lots of articles about this - there are a number of people who are very passionate about car seats and safety who try to educate a wider population - if you google you could spend 2 days reading up on ERF vs FF. I agree with Lime Slice - at the end of the day, it's a choice so long as you are aware of the possible consequences. To me, the choice was a no brainer. As an aside (as it does not relate to the latter part of this discussion), statistically speaking ISOFIX car seats have a much lower rate of improper install as well. We move ours between cars so easily (our other car also has ISOFIX) and you can get is so tight and properly aligned level so easily. Personally, I think it's disgraceful that Australia is so far behind when it comes to ERF and ISOFIX and yet boasts about it's great car seats.