While on the road this weekend, I saw several instances of children not buckled in car seats properly. I was furious at these parents for putting their children’s lives at risk! Here’s what I spotted on a 400-mile stretch of interstate:
- A little boy (maybe 3 years old) laying across the ledge on the backseat between the backseat and the rear windshield. Are you kidding me?! The car was zipping along in and out of traffic at 70+ miles per hour. I really hope a police officer spotted them and pulled them over. I wish I was quick enough to get their license plate. A wreck would almost certainly permanently disable or kill that child.
- A 2 or 3 year old riding in the front seat of his mother’s car without a car seat. First of all, no child under 12 should ride in the front. Secondly, children that small are required to use car seats! I even saw a car seat in the back of this woman’s Blazer, just sitting there unused.
- Another small child was riding unrestrained and without a car seat. Just climbing around the backseat.
There is absolutely no reason for these parents to risk their children’s lives. NO reason.
I’m really appalled at what I saw, and I hope against all odds that these children will avoid being in a wreck. The odds are not in their favor.
I know they say no kids under 12 should ride in the front, but my mom always said that works better when you have a single well-behaved child.
We were three children, five years apart from oldest to youngest, and we fought a lot. The best way of keeping peace in the car was to put one of us in the front seat, instead of all three of us in the backseat.
Also, my mom said that when I was a baby I literally SCREAMED any time I was in my car seat. You can only take screaming for so long! As soon as she felt comfortable taking me out, she happily did, even though I technically wasn’t old enough yet. It probably made her a safer driver to not listen to screaming!
There are definitely a lot of parents who do really stupid and unsafe things with their kids in the car, but there are also some parents who do it because the alternative makes them a worse driver. And to be honest, that puts the kids more at risk.
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No matter what, you will see this all the time. From carseats being strapped in wrong, to kids bouncing around the back seat. When I was little there was not as many laws when it came to kids and where they should sit and how. I remember sitting in the front seat at age six, then again at that time I had two siblings whose car seats took up most of the back seat.
The best you can do is watch the mistakes that parents make and learn from them, don’t make the same mistakes. I have a lot of friends who do certain things with their kids, that I would never imagine doing.
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Oh I get SO upset when I see that! Makes me want to bop their parents right on the head and say WHATS UP!
I was in a parking lot not long ago walking to my car and I was walking in the driving lane and this car came flying up on me (go figure they were suppose to be going slow in the FIRST PLACE) but I was like HEY HEY got a little one here (my neice) and I looked into the car. AND I WAS MAD when I saw this: 3 people in the back, two where older children and one a lady in her late 20s or so… and then a lady driving in her late 20’s and a ONE YEAR OLD IN THE FORNT SEAT! I gave her my HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO STUPID glare as best as I could… she looked at me like I could care less what you think. I walked away thinking how COULD you put your child in danger. yah… not so smart woman!
Anyhoo….
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I see a lot of kids sitting in their parents laps in the front seat(either driver or passenger). There justification is that its only a couple miles to their destination. Hello…accidents can (and do) happen close to home!
My baby sister screamed and cried whenever put in a car seat, so my mom would sit in the back and breast feed her (if dad was driving)until she fell asleep. Much safer than just holding her in her arms, even though less convinient for mom.
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Yeah, it’s a pretty disgusting thing. While I was reading this, it made me think about something else I see a lot of that makes me cringe: when parents are at restaurants with their children, and each parent has an alcoholic drink in his/her hand. Not just one, though, throughout the entire duration of the meal…are you kidding me, people…you’re going to have to get home somehow, my best guess is that you’re not calling a taxi. It’s not just your lives you’re endangering, but your children’s as well.
I wonder what it is that makes some parents just not care?
I am shocked and appalled at Ashley’s comment. How is it safer for a child to be riding unrestrained????
That is a completely ridiculous claim. I don’t care if a child is screaming and screaming and screaming, it is absolutley, positively WRONG for them not to be restrained in a carseat.
Maybe the driver can concentrate on the road better, but what about all the other bad drivers on the road??? Or the other distracted drivers??? Or what about the drunk ones???
How could anyone, anywhere, under any circumstance, justify risking their child’s life with something as simple as not putting them in a carseat?
And trust me, I’ve been there with my daughter screaming her little head off in the car. And it sucks, I know. But there’s absolutely no way I would ever be so stupid as to risk her life like that. I would never, ever be able to live with myself knowing that something happened to her all because I couldn’t deal with the crying.
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You know, it drives me crazy to see unrestrained kids. Just the other day, i saw some guy driving out of Target, with a woman in the passenger seat NURSING HER BABY. That kind of stuff is horrible!
Every so often, though, i think of family trips i took when i was young. i may be the only one, but i remember part of the fun with long trips was that you didn’t really have to wear a seatbelt, and you could sleep on the floor. i remember climbing to the back of our station wagon to get the cooler of soda we’d bring with us, and trying not to fall over if the car hit a bump.
i would never ever let my kids do that now, but i still have pretty nice memories of the seatbelt rules being relaxed during long trips.
My grandpa always said one of my fav jokes:
“75% of accidents occur within 15 miles from home. You know what that means? You should move!”
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I agree completely…there is NO excuse for driving in a car with an unrestrained child.
If your baby needs to nurse - PULL OVER!
If your child screams and cries…DEAL WITH IT! Yeah, it sucks, but letting them out not only teaches them that they get to make the decisions, which is a problem in itself, but it could also be deadly.
I am certain that NO parent, when asked whether they would rather listen to their children scream or watch them die would choose the latter.
I used to work downtown in a big city, on a VERY busy main street. I once watched a woman rear-end the car in front of her, jump out of her car, open the trunk and pull out a carseat, put it in the backseat and put the kid in it…just before the police arrived. My co-worker (and future husband) and I walked right over to that officer and explained exactly what happened. None of us could believe that she actually had a carseat and chose not to use it.
Unreal.
I actually just called the police a few days ago with the license plate number of a parent making the poor choice of letting a child jump around the back seat of the car. Oh…and I made sure to pull over before I got on my cell phone.
I get really angry when I see this as well.
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