Yabbut my friend regularly drives with a fully-grown golden retriever, a mutt that’s about 80 lbs, and some other dog that’s just a little smaller than those two. A lassie dog? i think? Anyway they are fairly big, and she drives like a maniac to boot. I worry when she gets behind the wheel!
The assumption is that those drivers who let their dogs sit on their laps love and dote on their dogs. Maybe if it was clarified for them just what exactly would happen in the event of even a minor front-end collision. Air bag pops out; dog, while providing additional cushioning for the driver, gets mooshed and dies.
When we are in my car I am very happy to have our little dog lying on the console between us, well away from the air bags. Still a potential projectile, though he wouldn’t have far to go in any direction.
Yes, at least the early air bags killed women, children, and pets. I think the advice is still not to let kids ride in the front. The console is somewhat like the front floor where my puppies ride.
In case of car accident how is an unrestrained dog going to react to the paramedics attempting to give medical treatment and/or remove it’s master (who might be critacly injured, unconcious, delusional, or dead)? Restraining a dog (in a harness or carrier) isn’t just for it’s own safety; it’s for the safety of the first responders trying to save the human driver & passengers lives. I voted for yes, it should be a law.
I was driving with my sister to another state; her husband was working a job up there, and she was taking a few things plus the 2 year old to stay with him for the couple months he was going to be working.
She didn’t want to drive alone, so I went along; we also had a german shepherd in the back, and a .38 on the dash, so as not to circumvent any concealed weapons laws.
We’re on the interstate, not speeding, and a statie pulls us over. He’s in his car a minute, then comes out with gun drawn, acting VERY on alert. He comes up slowly to the car, looks in the window, puts his gun away and apologizes. He said he thought he saw a kid hanging out the window; it had been the dog. The two year old was safely in her car seat and sawing logs.
To this day, though, I wonder why even seeing a kid hanging out the window is cause for drawing a firearm. 
As far as OUR firearm went, he said that it would be better to keep it in the glove box and just warn any other cops if for some reason we were stopped again, lol.
ANYWAY…it’s up to the driver to make sure they aren’t distracted. And any driver with a dog in the lap ought to automatically get a ticket for distracted driving, period.
Errr… the same way they’re react if a first responder showed up for a domestic medical emergency?
I bought a 60lb bag of concrete the other day. Should I have restrained it? Do I need to tell my groceries buckle up?
Our 15 pound mutt usually curls up in the back seat for a nap. She knows better than to try to get in my lap while I’m driving.