I think that the fact that you feel so strongly about this and that you act on it shows more integrity than I currently possess (I am such a wuss).
And even though I am a wuss and probably shouldn’t even be in the Pit because of this, I like reading all of your (and other posters) viewpoints.
Well thank ya Spider. 
Believe it or not, I enjoy reading and responding to all viewpoints no matter what they are. If we all agreed on every subject the board would be quite boring.
There it is, that’s my contribution - I’ll be abstenate to help fight bordom!
Diane, thanks for summing up your view (using small words helps be big time!)
Here’s mine:
I whole-heartedly agree that parents who will not take proper care of their kids are jerks. ( I remember a few things I could have done better, so I include myself)
If there is imminant danger, step in and help.
Yelling, or forcefully insisting that people behave in a way that you prefer (even if seatbelts are the issue) can and does lead to no good, and serves only to alienate those you are trying to influence.
I understand that Opal and Diane couldn’t give a rats whisker about all this, and will speak out anyway. (No problem, your perogative, but please understand when others speak on subjects they feel strongly about).
Diane, I seriously look forward to flames from you aimed at me in the future 'cause I like your style, but I can’t really flame you on this one since I don’t think you are truly evil, just a heart-in-the-right-place-but-slightly-off-target-in-your-actions kinda thing. 
Sili
TROMP! TROMP! TROMP! TROMP!
Uh, hello officer. Did I do something wrong? I’m pretty sure I wasn’t spee
Paperz Pleeze.
ding. Excuse me. Why did you pull me over?
ZILENSE! You vill show me your paperz now!
Papers? Oh, you want to zee, I mean see, my drivers liscence. Here.
Ahh, Very gut. Vell, herr Miller, vhat is your purpose with zeez cheeldren?
Hunh? Well I’m taking zem…them…to their gymnastics class. What is this about?
Ve haff had many complaintz about zertain parents who do not put zeir seatbeltz on zeir cheeldren. Zo ve are ztopping anyvon who lookz zuzpicios. I zee your cheeldren have zeir beltz on. Zhat iz gut.
Umm hmm. Well, I try to make sure that they buckle up.
TRY?!
Well, yes. Sometimes they unbuckle them after we get going and I have to tell them to put it back on. You know how kids can be, heh heh.
AHA! Zo, you admit to tranzporting ze youngzters without zeatbelts.
Err… No! What I said was…
ZILENCE! Ziss iz not gut. Hmmm. You zere, boy, vhat haff you gott in your mouth? Mein Gott! A lollipop. Do you know vhat that vill do to his teeth?!
Well it is sugarless.
ENOUGH! I vill haff to report ziss to zee authoritiez. Pleeze do not leave town. Ve vill be keeping an eye on you.
TROMP! TROMP! TROMP! TROMP!
I always find it interesting which side brings out the “Nazi card”.
The issue, as I see it:
We see an adult, breaking a law, which may have as a foreseeable consequence, the injury/death of a child.
Do we:
A. shrug it off as “natural selection”?
B. Call it to the attention of a law enforcement personnel?
C. Point out to the adult that the law requires that the child should be restrained?
D. Speed up, slam on the brakes so the offending adult has to stop their car so we can scream at the top of our lungs some profanity laced lecture on responsible parenting?
E. Require jackbooted thugs to pull over every parent we call to provide the scene that Squid is suggesing?
If I may be so bold as to guess, based on postings here, that NONE of us is advocating D or E. SOME of us seem to be advocating A, and maybe B if it’s not too inconvenient.
I see no ethical problem with either B or C. Though one might run into a very negative response from the other adult with this scene, I’m willing to risk that in favor of potentially saving a child from harm.
Sure, but in this case you just have to look at the source. Typical knee-jerk wildcard from the government conspiracy type. I usually skip over their drivel and write them off as kooks or morons.
Trade - If I got a little rude with you I apologize. I think we understand where each other is coming from, I just don’t think we are going to be able to convince each other to switch teams.
Wring - I couldn’t agree with you more.
Hmmmm… I’ve never yelled at anyone or forcefully insisted anything. I’ve said things like “you know, it’s illegal and dangerous for those kids to be out of their seatbelts” in a friendly manner.
But hey, we already know that someone here is going to put their own spin on things no matter what the facts are. :rolleyes:
Boy, the things you learn if you actually pay attention…
[ul]
[li]Squid has a sence of humor! You funny.[/li]
[li]Diane,wring and Opal don’t appreciate Squid’s sence of humor.[/li]
[li]This hullabaloo may have been about nothing (for my part) since neither Opal or Diane plan to yell at anyone through their car window.[/li][/ul]
Aw well, I love stirring things up anyway 
Trade, I think that we are both just reasonable enough to have gotten a belly laugh out of Squid’s little morality play.
Good stuff there Squidmeister, come on over and contribute to my threads anytime.
Chris
Hey everyone, I’m new here and this thread is how I found you. This is a very interesting topic. The risk is greater than you can imagine and increases every time a person experiences something like moving from place to place (ever stub your toe?, how about fell down?, you didn’t mean for this to happen, did you?)
My comment on the “laws enforced that embark on our freedom of choice” (or something like that):
Take a look at it this way. What is right by one in this country is right by all. Now if you were to have to trust another driver to transport your loved one/s in their car/truck/van/bus/taxi while you are not present, you as a person that is responsible (ie for children) would most likely have a shit fit to find out they were running red lights, speeding, or simply just drove terribly. Or maybe perhaps someone else on the road drove like shit and forced them into an accident. Maybe their cell phone rang, or they were distracted after a fight with the significant other (hey, imagine all the variables), diving a little faster or forgot to look for the stop sign, failed to see the dog or cat that was crossing in front of them, or didn’t see you as they reflected back on a stressful moment. Bla bla bla… Hey, they are human.
With this in mind, how in the hell are the police suppose to enforce for you the safety of what you hold close and dear? There are no gray areas when it comes to the law, what is right for one is right for all. If you send your kids out with a friend who is a new driver, will they be wearing their seatbelts? Do you know? If you send out your kids with your ex-husband or wife, are they wearing their seatbelts, do you know?
What will you do when you have to visit your child in the hospital with mashed in face, broken limbs, or worse; you have to try to look past the swollen injuries to identify them.
No one gets in their vehicle and sets out to get into an accident. A .01% risk of accident is quite simply enough reason to wear a restraint.
My ex-wife just yesterday, all pissed off at me after loosing her attempt to gain custody of our daughter, let our daughter sit in the front seat of her pickup truck (in the middle) where there is no seatbelt. If she cares so much for our daughter and claims to be a much better parent, why would my ex put her at so much risk of injury? Or any risk of injury?
My 8 year old daughter looked at me with confusion, her pretty blue eyes looking at me with wonder of what she is supposed to do, because she knows why I want her in a restraint. I have not had to ask my daughter to put on her seatbelt for about 5 years now, she does it automatically, unless she rides with her mother of course. What is she going to do when she rides with her friends who are not used to driving yet?
I have a question - how does one FIND an eleven year old thread?
Anyway, welcome to the boards
Google had indexed most of the SDMB.
I agree. I’m pro-choice, but if you’ve got a fetus in my car I am NOT EVEN BACKING OUT until it’s buckled!
Once again, I didn’t notice that we’re talking zombie fetuses here, but I don’t mind-- it was worth reading all over again!
Man. On the first page of this zombie, there’s Persephone talking about her kids.
This room just got really dusty.
If there was an unbuckled first grader in the car when the thread started, she’d be have a license by now :eek:
I still remember rolling around on the floor of the back seat of my dad’s el dorado. I suppose we know better now. I wonder how many kids died from car accidents as a percentage of auto deaths compared to now.
Doesn’t work for me. I’m not particularly thrilled about picking teeth out of my car’s dashboard, and my unbelted passengers probably won’t be in shape to clean up after themselves after a crash. I won’t even release the parking brake before everybody’s buckled up. Adults and kids alike. It’s my car, and if you’re riding with me, I decide the rules.
I love you
And **chique **is right above her. 