Not happy with what I saw, not happy with what I did

[TheZue]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there's a flaw in that logic. The ones who were thrown from the car, died or whose head injuries left them severely brain-damaged aren't that likely to be posting on the DIS these days.

No, not everyone survived. They're just not around to point out, "Hey, the lack of a seatbelt killed me."

That would be my second cousin. He didn't survive lax seatbelt laws.

 

[~disneydiva~]

I knew a state trooper that parked by the local elementary watching for parents who didn't have their children properly buckled. He wrote 25 tickets that morning.

 

[bigmerle1966]

..and I will say cars today are more safe than they were of yesteryear. I know my 2004 car has plenty of metal in it.

I remember growing up and taking a cross country trip. My Dad actually took out the back seat all together and put in special storage area that we sat on instead. So we couldnt even use the seat belts.

I know I just meant that the cars could absorb more of an impact. Most cars are not made with steele anymore, it's cheeper not to.

Todays car have much better safety features, air bags in every nook and cranny for one and much better seat belts for another but they cannot take a hit like they used to.

 

[RachelNinja]

When I was in high school, my family and I were driving somewhere and we saw a minivan with a young child in the front side without a seatbelt. I did a double take and realized it was one of my closest friend's mother and brother! My family was appalled that he was even in the front seat at all. Why he didn't have a seatbelt on baffled me!

A year later or so, my friend and I were getting into another friend's boyfriend's car as we were getting a ride to her house. She didn't put her seatbelt on, and when I asked her why she said, "I trust his driving." I countered with, "Even if he's the safest driver, do you trust everyone else?"

Apparently that didn't change anything because on another occasion when we were college age, we were getting into another friend's car. She didn't put on her seatbelt and when I told her to, she said, "I don't put my seatbelt on if I'm in the backseat because it's safer here."

I was shocked. Only a few months earlier, I had gotten into a car accident with my family. We all had our belts on, thankfully, and my baby brother was in his booster seat. I was the only one hurt because the car hit where I was sitting, so I had to go to the hospital and then months of physical therapy for my back. Yet despite all that, that same friend didn't care to put it on. I can't imagine how much more we would have been injured if we didn't have our seatbelts!

It really is the parents' responsiblity to teach their children safety in the car. My mom doesn't drive anywhere until everyone is buckled in. My friends had to buckle themselves in or she wouldn't move. She would say, "It's my car, my rules" regardless of what their parents did or did not enforce.

My boyfriend now won't even start the car until I'm buckled in! He'll just wait until that snap is heard before he puts the key in the ignition.

I just hope that if all these kids survive these car rides without being buckled in, they learn from someone else in the future that it's important.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Around here, we can call 911. Cops will answer.

I saw a mini-van once where the girls were sitting in the front seat buckled in the same seat belt. The side door was open (which I presume was broken and the father put the girls up front so he could keep an I on them.)

But it was just too sad and dangerous. The girls were (rough guess) about ages 4 and 6. Too young for the front seat and to not be in a booster for their stature. (the girl closest the the door was fighting the shoulder harness with her head.)

The van really should not have been driven and I did call 911 and they sent 2 police officers immediately. I did track the van so they could find it.

I've just grown up with too much irresponsible parenting from my own parents to not really accept any excuse for why parents make such choices in a vehicle.

No I don't rat on everyone I see--but if there is clear endangerment, I will. Thus far though, it seems that most people on the road in my area can obey the state laws when it comes to proper restraint for children in the car.

 

[luvmy3]

When we were little most cars were made out of steel, not fiberglass. And an accident then might have just dented the car while these days the same thing could total it.

I know I just meant that the cars could absorb more of an impact. Most cars are not made with steele anymore, it's cheeper not to.

Todays car have much better safety features, air bags in every nook and cranny for one and much better seat belts for another but they cannot take a hit like they used to.

Actually simple physics would say that you are safer in a car that gets crushed. In steel cars, the automobile does not absorb the impact, they reflect it if you will, to the passengers inside it. The cars that get totaled are the ones that absorb the impact, taking the brunt of energy from the force so that the passengers do not.

ETA I can't believe how many of you see unrestrained toddlers and children. I can honestly say I have never.

 

[jsmith]

My good friend is black and she says it's a cultural thing down here (I am in the South).

Its not just the south-and its more with people who are somewhat older-when my second child (now 20) was born i had to stay with my parents for a few weeks as he was a C-section delivery and my husband who is in the military was on a field problem. My mother who is a well educated woman quiet knowledgable in child development informed me that putting a tiny infant in a car seat was "barbaric and abusive" and that it was safer and healthier for the baby to hold them in your lap or wedge a bassinet between the front and back seats. I was astonished to say the least-and i didnt take the baby out of the house the whole time i was there.