Or do they create more as people divert their attention from the road to the bright yellow dangly sign in front of them? Any stats?
They’re not designed to prevent accidents. They’re designed to let rescue crews know to look for an infant in the wreckage.
Yes, but they trigger more deliberate rammings, so they balance out.
Are you serious Telemark?
he he thats along my line of thinking too… lol
No they arent, they are a novelty item much like a bumper sticker, they may have had original intentions to warn other motorists as to why the driver was maybe being a little cautious in their driving but that is more speculation than fact, they are simply a wank option, parents are notoriously proud of having children and want the world to know it hence the novelty signs.
Its like saying “Magic Happens” signs were designed to alert people of the fact that magic is a real existing phenomena (let me make it clear this is sarcasm and not my belief. Magic is not real, sorry kids…)
Zaphod
Are they a thing in Ozzie-land now? I only ask because they came and went (because nobody used them correctly and they became a joke) here in the States about 20 years ago. I haven’t seen one in decades.
Snopes says that they were a copy of similar signs displayed in Europe and that the American maker just wanted to promote safer driving: Baby on Board
But they leave out the question of why Europeans displayed the sign. I heard the story of the lost baby in an accident from my sister who was, at the time, living in Germany. Apparently that’s what the Germans believed then. So was there a European accident that led to “Baby on Board” signs?
I think it’s very important to note that the only time I have been been in an accident, is when I rear-ended a car with a “baby on board” sign. So, when the driver you are trying to caution happens to be me… it doesn’t work.
I have to second this remark, in Britain these are in cars in order to let rescue teams know that there may be a child in the wreckage. I think it is an offence to display one if there isn’t a child on board.
I recently saw a seemingly identical sign, but on the back of a Mercedes sportscar which didn’t seem usual baby transport. Then I noticed it actually read “Babe on Board”, so I put my foot down to discover she was flouting the Trades Descriptions Act 
Initially thought it was quite amusing until I friend pointed out it was actually total wank too. 
Anybody care to try to answer the OP and come up with stats, instead of agreeing how stupid the signs are?
Nope, don’t think so (in either case). They’re not licensed in any way so there can’t be any checks on them. Besides, what if you drop your children off - are you meant to remove the sign on your return journey and put it back when you pick them up again - every day?!
I’d like to see the charge if you were stopped!
A gimmick - no more, no less.
I know of no such law or procedure. If I’m in a car wreck I expect the rescue teams to consider every possibility of who might be in there, not just those indicated by an sticker on the back window.
In the UK there is no law where you’re obilged to remove your ‘L’ plates when there is no learner driver in the car, so I’m extremely doubtful of any that applies to daft ‘Baby On Board’ flippity-jigs.
With regards to the OP. I would be amazed if you found any official stats on this. As explained these things have absolutely no official status and come in thousands of different styles, so it’s unlikely that anyone has collected stats on their frequency in car accidents any more than you’ll find stats for cars with those hilarious “XXXs do it XXX XXXXX” stickers.
In terms of stats, one would quite possibly find that cars with such a sign were on average less likely to be in an accident than cars without. However, this would further likely be correlation with responsible, experienced drivers who knew others depended on their well-being and thus drove more safely, than a sign causing other drivers to be more cautious in turn.
And yes, I believe it is merely the proud owners trumpeting their fecundity rather than a truly useful precaution.
Hrmm, apparently not. I assumed it was an extension of the “Tot Finder” stickers that many people put on the windows of their houses to let fire fighters find children. That program is also (pardon the pun) under fire for similar reasons that people doubt “Baby on Board” signs do any good.
Fighting ignorance starts at home.
I recall a comedian 10 or so years ago telling a story about the time he saw a car in the parking lot with a “Baby on Board” sign in the window. It was a hot day and all the windows were rolled up. He couldn’t see a baby in the car. Thinking it had rolled under the seat or something, he smashed out all the windows with a baseball bat to get in so he could rescue the baby. Turns out, the parents had taken the baby into the mall with them and they had neglected to change the sign! And they didn’t even thank him for his efforts.
There aren’t going to be any stats on the signs preventing accidents. How do you keep track of events which don’t occur? Especially when there’s no feasible way of knowing how many cars in a given group have the signs?
The main thing they seem to accomplish is raising the ire of drivers who interpret them as smug admonitions to treat the occupants of the signed car as being more worthy of one’s careful attention than other human beings. I doubt that would have the presumed effect.
They serve the same purpose as saying “Be careful!” when a loved one leaves the house. Oh, thanks. I was going to be really reckless today and get myself in an awful crash, but now that you’ve told me to be careful…
‘CAUTION: SHOW DOGS!’
That one I saw just today.
…and another one, in an obvious horse carrier/trailer…CAUTION: HORSES!
with the asses and tails of two horses waving in the wind…now, that one, I didn’t follow closely.
No, they where popular here in Australia about the same time but you occasionally still see one around.