People do these things thinking that they will NEVER be in an accident so it wont matter, baby will be fine. But if they get pulled over for a breatho etc they could still risk a fine if the police happen to notice a very young baby that is not restrained properly. Not only that, if they were ever in an accident, then they could void their insurance cover for the baby as well as the company could argue that they were not restrained properly, so they aren't covered under insurance. My SIL did the same thing - reckoned he would like it better if he was forward faced along with her own paranoia about not being able to see him so she turned him - didn't matter what anyone said about it because her mind was set. This may be the case with your situation too, but at least you know you tried and it is on their heads if anything ever happened.