I’ve been thru 3 checkpoints (all belted). My mom was thru 2 unbelted, got 1 warning, 1 ticket. All were in western Nassau Cty.
Never seen one in NYC myself. I do not think adults in the back seat can be ticketed. I also believe there is a child seat law, but with no kids and very rarely transporting them, I do not know it.
Touche.
Lucky you, Zev. I have.
My partner and I both thought for a split second (by the light of our penlights) that mom had somehow been eviscerated…but then we got some better light and we realized that the mess on her lap used to be an infant girl. Mom was driving with the baby on her lap. Mom didn’t have a scratch on her.
I am fairly militant about kids and seatbelts after seeing that.
If you see a child who is not seat-belted, call the police if you have a cell phone. Be prepared to give location, direction of travel, description, and (if possible) license plate. Police officers can and do pull these individuals over, particularly if citizens call with complaints.
My parents never belted me in. They both smoked cigarettes in the car with the windows up while us kids jostled around in the back of the station wagon. Mom hit a tree once trying to learn how to drive with about 5 of us kids in the back, (no one seriously hurt) and dad pulled a 90 into a big ditch from an icy road with me about 5 years old on the bench seat of a pickup truck being straight armed to resist the impact of the opposite bank of the ditch. Us kids never wore helmets for bicycling, and we played with each other for hours in an unsupervised setting. The extent of our protection against perverts was strong admonition to never accept candy from strangers, because they might try to take us away.
But dammit, after I was sixteen, and I wanted to buy a motorcycle with my own money, they would not permit it. Although quite legal, they felt the risk was too high.
Now I see pudgy little boys in elementary school operating off road motorcycles and ATVs . When they come home they watch TV, play computer games and eat junk food.
Sorry, I got carried away. My point is, if we regard the use of seatbelts today as indicative of the intelligence/social worth of parents/adults what does that say about motorcycle operators and their parents? Or, how come we legislate seatbelt use for autmobiles, but not for school buses? And why do we permit motorcycles for which seatbelts are useless?
We do the best we can for a given form of transportation. As far as your (grienspace) experiences, all I can say is that you were lucky. In fact, I’d guess that most people back then were fairly lucky regarding kids and car accidents. But I feel quite confident in saying that a lot more kids would have survived car accidents if car seats were available and mandatory in the past. I assume you’re not trying to argue that seatbelts and car seats are unnecessary.
And Cecil actually attacked the seatbelts in school buses issue:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981106a.html
However, I believe all new buses sold in NY State must be seat belt equipped.
I thought the reason you forwent the car seat was to avoid nagging. I think Mrs. rjung should read this. If she really does subject you to a “long drawn-out argument with a tempermental spouse”, then she shouldn’t. Your child is in danger if s/he is not in a car seat. There’s nothing to argue about. (And spare me the waffling about how children are in danger everywhere. This is a specific and potent danger with a specific and effective remedy.)
**
That reminds me. I want to go to Griffith Park on Memorial Day, but parking is going to be hell. I think I’ll walk across the 134 to get there. It’s okay; I’ll be extra-alert to traffic conditions.
Deej: :eek:
I know someone who was stopped for speeding once. Not way over the speed limit, but speeding all the same. The policeman then noticed that she had her 8 year old child in the back, no seatbelt. Instant up-grading of offence to dangerous driving, reckless endangerment and a court appearance.
I can’t remenber exactly what she got, but it was a hefty fine and lots of points on the licence. Far more than what she would have got for a relitively minor speeding offence.
Anyone wanting a demo of the effects of hitting a brick wall whilst holding a (mock) child may want to rent Fearless . Great movie, with a secondary theme of " but everyone said it’d be OK if I held him in my lap!"
I don’t see anyone here disputing that car restraints are a good idea. All the arguments are about convenience. Not worth the time. Not worth listening to my wife nag. Not worth it.
You mean to tell me that although Children Are Our Future and We Must Protect The Children and Children Are Our Most Valuable Resource who must be supported by The Villiage, the parents of said children are more concerned with their own convenience that the safety of their kids?
If parents want The Villiage to give a shit about their child, it’d be nice if the parents did too.
A few months ago, I was in a car accident. I was on my way to a friends house and was stopped at a red light maybe a minute into my drive. Again, I’ll emphasize stopped at a red light. About 15 seconds after I stopped, a minivan hit me from behind. The minivan was going full speed (25-30mph), as the driver had never seen me or the red light. I, along with my two passengers, all received whiplash and needed to be under a doctor’s care for two months after the accident. My cousin, who was in the back seat, hit the back windsheild and received not only whiplash, but a mild concussion as well. We were all wearing our seatbelts, which is most likely what prevented myself and the other passenger in the front seat from going through the windshield.
The saddest part of all this is not the damage done to my car or the injuries we received. The minivan that hit my car was packed with young children. My cousin said there may have been 12+ kids in a van meant to hold a maximum of 7 people, including the driver. None of these children wore seatbelts. I hate to even think of the damage the accident must have done to those poor little children.
My point is this: No matter how far the distance, how much of a burden it may be, please buckle yourself and your children. It takes less than a second for someone - be it yourself or another driver - to lose control of their car. In a 5 minute drive down the street, there are 300 seconds during which a lot can happen.
Yes, I do realize that we can’t prevent every bad thing from happening to our children. However, it completely dumbfounds me that anyone would rather choose convenience than doing something very simple that could ultimately save their child’s life. I just could not live with myself knowing that I was at least partly responsible for my child’s death. I hope that you never have to live with that grief.
Well, I suppose I should find it gratifying that a number of Dopers are so concerned about the well-being of my child to come by and lecture me on the necessity of seat belts and restraining devices. I could get irritated, but I don’t think that’s productive, especially since I’m sure you’re all doing it out of selfless love and concern.
So, with that in mind, I’m sure all of you would be glad to donate some money to Junior’s college fund, yes? I haven’t had a chance to save up much yet, what with the recession and all, but I’m sure y’all would gladly reach deep into your pockets and toss a few thousand dollars my way. I figure between DoperChic, Rilchiam, throatshot, and ShadowWarrior, if each of you would contribute $6,000, that would make a nice start. Four-year colleges aren’t getting cheaper, after all, and the sooner you send me some money, the sooner I can put it into a trust fund or a long-term CD.
C’mon, folks, I’m waiting… 
Why? If you don’t care about you kid’s safety, why do you think anyone else should care about its education?
I’ll remember your caring exaple of parenthood the next time some can-shaking do-gooder wants me to write a cheque or support their “but what about the CHILDREN???” campaign. “I’d love to donate ma’am, but since the parents are too lazy to keep their kids from harm, why should I lift a finger?”
Actually, rjung, the real reason that the rest of us want the tots belted in is so they don’t come flying through our windshields after they’ve flown through their parents’ windshields.
Personally, I’d rather listen to ‘a few blocks’ of nagging/crying than risk the life of my kid, but that’s me.
Yea, back when I was young, we weren’t belted in either, but of course, back in those days, the cars themselves were made of iron and would knock down a brick wall…
As parents we (should) do the best we can w/what we have available (resources, knowledge etc.) and to forego a foreseeable risk (even if it’s remote) by the use of a non intrusive device, for the sake of convenience etc, seems like a poor choice to me.
THere was a case here in MI where a woman packed a friend and 11 kids into a pick up truck, without a drivers’ liscense, ran a stop sign and drove into the path of a semi truck. All but 2 of the kids were killed.
They cared enough to nag (and in such long-winded detail, too), so obviously they’re concerned about his education.
I’m waiting for those checks, folks!
Slightly rearranged so that I ask in a different order; I hope you don’t mind.
Ouch. I hope everyone ends up OK, including the kids in the van. How don’t you know how many kids were in the van and what happened to them? Didn’t the police report cover that?
How would getting rear ended make you go through the windshield?
Uh, rjung? If you’re only three blocks from home, why not let the wife and kid out to walk the rest of the way? Kid gets held, is safe, and no tickets for you to worry about.
I have a 2 year old and a 5 year old. They are ALWAYS in their safety seats and belted. ALWAYS. One of them was a major car-hater for about a year, and we never took her out. I’d sit next to her seat, strapped in of course, to keep her company, but we never took them out while the car was in motion. Easier to learn that car seats are what we use in the car that way.
Checks to be sent to the rjung Offspring Brain Damaged Drooling Into His Ostomy Bag Twitching Tard Because My Parents Didn’t Care if I LIved Or Died Short Bus Fund
rjung, you sit at a keyboard making facetious comments about people who are worried your kid may be violently injured because of something you can easily prevent Someone expresses concern about a kid who cannot protect itself-your kid-and you mock them? You smug fuck.
Stop being such a pussy whipped git and be a proper parent.
So, Annie, you care enough to talk about the well-being of my child, but not enough to actually do anything about it?
Just making it clear…
what’s that rule again about being a jerk?
Rjung,
We simply think that it is very stupid of you and your wife to take your child out of the car seat because it’s more * convenient* for you. There is a huge difference in between not wanting your child’s head to resemble a smashed strawberry and sending your child to college.
If I read a post of someone letting their toddler play near a pool I would also be pretty concerned. That doesn’t mean I have to pay their way through college.
There is a HUGE difference in letting an older child experince life and pulling a baby out of the seat so that poor widdle mommy can stop the crying. Baby cries? too bad. deal with it.
If you honestly can’t tell the difference then you are pretty thickheaded.
let me quote deej again:
“My partner and I both thought for a split second (by the light of our penlights) that mom had somehow been eviscerated…but then we got some better light and ** we realized that the mess on her lap used to be an infant girl.** Mom was driving with the baby on her lap. Mom didn’t have a scratch on her.”
read that and think of your kid you, fucking moron.
You just have to keep coming back and having the last word, don’t you? well have at it. You backed yourself into a corner by your original post and are making a rather weak attempt to be funny. Joke all you want, you ass.