I just gotten back from Wal-mart, when I was walking in I saw two separate cars drive by without their kids in carseats. There was a police officer standing by the door about to get in his car and I went over and told on them! Lol… It just ticks me off to see people holding infants and toddlers jumping around obviously not in a car seat! And wouldn’t you know I made sure to look and BOTH cars the adults in the front seats had their seat belts on, they’ll be safe. Guess they don’t care about the kids?

The police officer thanked me and hurried over to the first one but I didn’t stick around to see if he got the second one.

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 12:14 am:

Yikes! I hate it when kids are loose in cars! Mine never were!

By Jelygu on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 12:53 am:

I once saw a woman holding her INFANT with her while she drove... This was at Wal-mart too actually! What is wrong with people?

By Kayleesmommy on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 02:33 am:

I would have told on them too! That is so wrong . How could you live with yourslef if you got in a car accident and your child died or got seriously injured because you didn't make them sit in a car seat. If you made them do it every time then they wouldn't know anything different.

By Alberobello on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 03:48 am:

I never understood why put your seatbelt on if you are not doing it with your children. Some of my friends do it and when i put my son in their car i make sure he wears it. I don't have a car so don't have that problem yet. I would have told them myself, though. But you are right Christylee they should always put their children's seatbelt. Wearing one yourself and not making your children wear them seems like a such incongruence.

By Trina~moderator on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 08:17 am:

I see stuff like this all the time, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to become a CPS Tech. Unrestrained kids, improperly restrained kids, babies front facing too soon, kids in lap belts, kids out of boosters too soon, etc.... All these things are VERY dangerous in the event of a crash!

By Amecmom on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 10:05 am:

Wouldn't you be scared your kid would do something to cause a crash, or get hurt lose in a car that way? I could just see my son climbing over into the front, demanding to drive the car!
Ame

By Heaventree on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 11:02 am:

I can't believe that people actually do that! I've seen it myself. When we lived in an apartment building there was a mother I would see almost daily and her child was unrestrainted in the back seat. I always wanted to say something but didn't want to get into a confrontation and I didn't think it would help anyway.

We are so seat belt crazy in our house even our pets have seat belts. A colleague thought I was crazy for having a seat belt for my dog and she vowed that she would never go that far. I hope for her sake that she never gets into an accident with her dog. Imagine what would happen if you had a 100 pound dog hit you in the back of the head? Everyone must have seat belts on, many people when sitting in the back seat don't wear seat belts and what they don't realize is that they could easily kill the people in the front seat if they are in an accident.

By Trina~moderator on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 11:47 am:

Heaventree, I'm glad you brought this up. You are wise to restrain your dog! YES, an unrestrained dog could become a dangerous projectile during a crash. Weight x Speed = Crash Force, meaning a 100 lb. dog as a projectile during a 30 mph crash = 3000 lbs. of crash force. Yikes! One of my cyber friends, who is a CPS Tech and dog owner, uses a harness from RuffRider.com.

On the same note, you are also correct about the dangers of unbelted passengers. One unbelted passenger can become a projectile that threatens ALL passengers' lives.

UK Commercial video clip - "Julie"

ThinkRoadSafety.Gov.UK

I've seen more like this but can't find them at the moment.

By My2cuties on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 12:47 pm:

I have seen it too many times..once a lady was holding her very much NEWBORN and drove out of the parking lot, needless to say I called the police, another time this group piled in a car and there wasn't enough room so they took the child out of the carseat put the carseat in the trunk and sat him in an adult's lap...DH and I just sat there and stared at each other, it was heartbreaking. Some people really do not care at all!!

By Mrsheidi on Sunday, February 13, 2005 - 06:34 pm:

Saw one tonight...2 kids not in carseats. Urgh...tried to track them down at the store for a half hour but I couldn't find them. Felt like a vigilante!

By Children03 on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 12:43 am:

Yeah, this aggrevates me too, I have called the police on a few people as I'm driving along behind them because their kids are practically hanging out the car window. Uggh some people!

By Missmudd on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 10:22 am:

While I was working at the drive thru at the bank saw this all the time. I talked w/ my boss about it and she said that I couldnt say anything about it to the customer. So when I saw unrestrained kids in the back, usually bouncing off the walls, I would say, Mrs. Jones I just wanted to let you know that your kids have gotten out of their seatbelts. Then mrs jones would totally freak on the kids, even though she would have had to been in a coma not to notice, they got in their seatbelts, I made my point, and the kids were safe at least until they left the parking lot.

Funny when I was 18 the seat belt law for adults came up for the vote. I never wore my seatbelt but voted for the law. It passed, I havent rode in a car unrestrained since, and boy the dks sure know that mom means business about seatbelts. I could never forgive myself if one of the dks got hurt and I could have prevented it.