Kids not wearing seatbelts - does anyone else get angry?
Discussion
Twice in the last week I've been behind cars where the kids in the back are not wearing seat belts. On one occasion it was a toddler, about two years old, standing on the back seat at the other cars out the back window! On the other occasion it was a chavish 10 yr old kid. However, on both occasions the parent (presumably) had a seat-belt on in the front.
I find myself getting really irritated when I see this type of thing. There are occasions when I'd really like to be copper in an unmarked car and read the riot act to such (so called) parents.
I find myself getting really irritated when I see this type of thing. There are occasions when I'd really like to be copper in an unmarked car and read the riot act to such (so called) parents.
The wearing of seatbelts for front seat passengers didn't become compulsory until 1983.
For rear seat passengers it was 1993.
Anyone who is now over 40 probably never wore a seatbelt as a child. Nor was their parents car purchased on the strength of its NCAP safety rating. And yet they've survived.
However, if they don't learn to chill soon, they'll probably die of some premature coronary event caused by the stress of worrying about the seat belt wearing habits of others.
For rear seat passengers it was 1993.
Anyone who is now over 40 probably never wore a seatbelt as a child. Nor was their parents car purchased on the strength of its NCAP safety rating. And yet they've survived.
However, if they don't learn to chill soon, they'll probably die of some premature coronary event caused by the stress of worrying about the seat belt wearing habits of others.
telecat said:
I do have one friend who for medical reasons cannot wear a set belt. I hate carrying her in my car. Nobody is driven anywhere by me without a belt. I also wonder about the morons who think it's safe to have a baby/toddler sat on their lap in the front of the car.
Interesting. What 'medical reasons' exactly? Maybe I can get my GP to give me a letter so I don't have to wear one.
Oh, and I'm one of those over-40s who never had to wear a seatbelt as a kid (or even when I passed my test), nor did my daughter wear one/ have a child seat/ booster cushion... and miraculously we're all still alive, and not morons either.
Incidentally, it's a fact that in danger you instinctively cling on to things, so it's quite likely that a child held in arms would survive a crash (relatively) unscathed. But what do I know, I think what the government wants me to...
wedg1e said:
I do have one friend who for medical reasons cannot wear a set belt. I hate carrying her in my car. Nobody is driven anywhere by me without a belt. I also wonder about the morons who think it's safe to have a baby/toddler sat on their lap in the front of the car.
Interesting. What 'medical reasons' exactly? Maybe I can get my GP to give me a letter so I don't have to wear one.
.....
A friend of mine also has a medical reason as well. He had major surgury on the chest/lower stomach. The certificate was provided by the GP but the local Police knew about the chap as well as he kept getting stopped.
I cringe seeing Dogs hanging out of cars. I feer for the dog and drivers safty. Even if you dont like dogs imagine catching the dog as the car goes past a crossing as some of them hang out quite a way.
>> Edited by scared but happy on Saturday 28th January 21:11
Boosted Ls1 said:
Often seem to be families seemingly capable of breeding like rats! So, they can afford a few losses on the way.
Boosted.
>> Edited by Boosted Ls1 on Saturday 28th January 20:33
I was on the rank the other day and two birds came up to me with their batch of kids after coming out of a working club.
Them ...can you take six mate.
Me......No sorry ime only licensed for five
Them....o go on mate no ones gonna notice
Me .....Cant love,if there is an accident ime in the sh*t.
Them....yea but two kids count as one adult.
Me......No i think you will find that its one body to one belt.
She started to get a bit arsey with me,i could see she was trying to save money but in the event of an accident she would be the first one to call for my head to get compensation.
It is sad to see, especially when the parents are all nicely belted up..
though it is fair to say kids bounce: Dad had an accident where he went into the side of someone (she spun for aaaaaaaaages!), and I was on the back seat with no seatbelt on (as I recall, there weren't any seatbelts), and ended up in the footwell, without a scrape, I believe!
Mind, I wouldn't let my sprog into the car without one, despite my grandma trying to convince me when he was newborn I could just lay him in a moses basket on the back seat
though it is fair to say kids bounce: Dad had an accident where he went into the side of someone (she spun for aaaaaaaaages!), and I was on the back seat with no seatbelt on (as I recall, there weren't any seatbelts), and ended up in the footwell, without a scrape, I believe!
Mind, I wouldn't let my sprog into the car without one, despite my grandma trying to convince me when he was newborn I could just lay him in a moses basket on the back seat
WD* said:
It is sad to see, especially when the parents are all nicely belted up..
though it is fair to say kids bounce: Dad had an accident where he went into the side of someone (she spun for aaaaaaaaages!), and I was on the back seat with no seatbelt on (as I recall, there weren't any seatbelts), and ended up in the footwell, without a scrape, I believe!
Mind, I wouldn't let my sprog into the car without one, despite my grandma trying to convince me when he was newborn I could just lay him in a moses basket on the back seat
That'd have been the Ascona I parked in the side of a speeding Escort
I think the time you ended up in the footwell was in the Mini as a baby, a few months old, when I braked for a pedestrian crossing and you rolled off the back seat. Ironically the front seatbelt rule was in by then...
Anyway as kids we used to go round the countryside in the back of my dad's van, we'd fight for who got a comfy seat on the wheelarches
Yeah, it does my head in as well to see pondlife parents allowing their kids to stand up between the front seats. The dynamics involved in a crash at any significant speed are pretty brutal. Bear in mind that if the car's doing 40 mph and comes to a sudden halt against something like a concrete wall then everything inside the car is still doing 40 mph...
On the other hand, when I was a little sprog in the 70's my brother and I were sitting in the back of Mum's car. Brother (maybe 3 years old, this was 1973, no Recaro child seats then!) reaches up and opens door at maybe 10 mph and promptly falls out of the car onto the road. I pipes up to my Mum in innocent 6 year-old mode that she might want to turn round and go back because her other son was now no longer in the vehicle. Mother freaks, Brother unscathed.
On the other hand, when I was a little sprog in the 70's my brother and I were sitting in the back of Mum's car. Brother (maybe 3 years old, this was 1973, no Recaro child seats then!) reaches up and opens door at maybe 10 mph and promptly falls out of the car onto the road. I pipes up to my Mum in innocent 6 year-old mode that she might want to turn round and go back because her other son was now no longer in the vehicle. Mother freaks, Brother unscathed.
wedg1e said:
Anyway as kids we used to go round the countryside in the back of my dad's van, we'd fight for who got a comfy seat on the wheelarches
Oh yes good old days. My job as a young boy was to sit on a toolbox in the back of dads van and hold onto the baler twine that secured the back door.
story time.
back in the 86 or so my father had a cortina estate. on the way back to Stanford no Hope where we lived from visiting family in New Malden on one of the last corners my little sister fell out of the car. she had been leaning on the door which looked closed and had even been closed properly but for some reason had not latched. unknown to us - driving 50-60 miles the door had been open.
she leant on it, my father went round a long corner not particulary fast for the corner (maybe 30) and my 6yo sister exited the car. spent a few days in hospital with a bruised liver, broken nose and few other bits and bobs. within three days that car had rear seat belts fitted and my father won't drive anywhere without rear passengers belting up.
back in the 86 or so my father had a cortina estate. on the way back to Stanford no Hope where we lived from visiting family in New Malden on one of the last corners my little sister fell out of the car. she had been leaning on the door which looked closed and had even been closed properly but for some reason had not latched. unknown to us - driving 50-60 miles the door had been open.
she leant on it, my father went round a long corner not particulary fast for the corner (maybe 30) and my 6yo sister exited the car. spent a few days in hospital with a bruised liver, broken nose and few other bits and bobs. within three days that car had rear seat belts fitted and my father won't drive anywhere without rear passengers belting up.
Always a pet hate of mine, I always did something about it too. They would stare at me at disbelief for being stopped for purely that reason.
Adults that decide not to wear their seatbelts - sometimes people just dont want to wear them, and indeed some would argue that wearing a belt can be dangerous when upside down and trapped - yes I can see that as well which is why I carry a tool to cut them as I always wear a belt even if going a short distance.
But not to have children strapped in, makes me raving
They would go through the front windscreen like a shot if the car was in a collision.
And 6 kids on the front seat of a transit.....
Honest sir, I never did it to be sure...wasn't me driving.
aahhh, g and t please....
Adults that decide not to wear their seatbelts - sometimes people just dont want to wear them, and indeed some would argue that wearing a belt can be dangerous when upside down and trapped - yes I can see that as well which is why I carry a tool to cut them as I always wear a belt even if going a short distance.
But not to have children strapped in, makes me raving
They would go through the front windscreen like a shot if the car was in a collision. And 6 kids on the front seat of a transit.....
Honest sir, I never did it to be sure...wasn't me driving. aahhh, g and t please....
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