"it's not like he could have flown out the window"

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha

A while ago, I lent a family member a car seat so she could give the occasional ride to my cousin's DS, "R".

Tonight, that family member asked me if I wanted it for Baby Boy. I told her it was not necessary

She then went on to say "R barely fits in it anymore anyway. Especially now that it's colder outside. I couldn't even buckle him all the way the other day because of his coat. I ended up driving him with only one leg buckled"

:S 

And then she started telling me how NOT unsafe it was. Like, and I quote, "it's not like he could have flown out the window" (oh. ok. I guess flying out the window is the only way a child could get injured in a car crash.) And "we didn't have far to go" followed by "I was driving very carefully" (because apparently, being a careful driver somehow protects you from all the reckless drivers out there - and you have to go far to get into a crash)

My initial reaction was "WTF is wrong with you!?"

Sadly, it would have been pointless to tell her how crazy stupid dangerous that was. I have had car seat conversations with her before, and everything I say goes in one ear and out the other. She thinks parents are way overprotective for RFing past 1 year old, thinks the expiration date on car seats is some marketing gimmick... you get the idea.

I did manage to tell her "You know, you could take his coat off once he is in the car. That way you'd be able to strap him in properly." Let's hope she takes the hint. 

The worst part is, she told me my cousin saw her leave with R half-strapped in and didn't say a thing.

Seriously guys, if I knew when and where she is going to drive him again, I would be very tempted to send the police after her.

amywalt1684

Whoa!! There's no way your cousin really saw that, right? Wow. Just wow.

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha

amywalt1684 said:

Whoa!! There's no way your cousin really saw that, right? Wow. Just wow.

I really hope that part was a lie.

Rachey1082

amywalt1684 said:

Whoa!! There's no way your cousin really saw that, right? Wow. Just wow.

Um yeah, I would flip out on anyone driving my kid around with no seat, or not properly buckled.

NotSharknado

Car safety is for suckers!


Seriously, how freaking stupid.

MMS88

It irritates the crap outta me when people don't use the chest clip properly. Some people just lack common sense. Why is it so difficult to use the car seat properly?

ladybugpjb

Maybe your cousin didn't want to confront her? Maybe she didn't see closely enough what was going on?

 

WashingtonQueen

"it's not like he could have flown out the window"

Ummm, yes he could have. In fact, a 4 month old baby girl DID fly out of a window yesterday when her father did not strap her in the car seat properly and then got into an accident. The girl had to be air lifted to a Seattle hospital and is in serious condition.

MrsCase1

Um....

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha

WashingtonQueen said: "it's not like he could have flown out the window"Ummm, yes he could have. In fact, a 4 month old baby girl DID fly out of a window yesterday when her father did not strap her in the car seat properly and then got into an accident. The girl had to be air lifted to a Seattle hospital and is in serious condition. "Oh yeah but what are the odds of THAT happening"

*sigh*

As for my cousin, I think I'm going to call her when we get new car seats for Baby Boy (he's 21lbs now and the weight limit on his bucket seat is 22lbs so we'll be switching soon). I have a feeling DD2's bulky Eddie Bauer seat will have to go and I will offer it to my cousin. That will give me a good excuse to talk to her and either educate her a bit on car seat safety (if she did in fact let her DS go half strapped in) or let her know what happened (if she didn't know).

fancefpp

This shit makes me crazy! Probably, because I have serious car anxiety now that I have kids but so many people just don't care. I know people think I'm the crazy one for having DS1 still RFing but it's such an easy thing to do, why not? I saw a pic on Facebook of a toddler with her straps hanging off her. How hard is it to strap them in properly? I don't get it! I'd definitely talk to your cousin. She might just need a reminder. It's nice that you care so much

melissa0726

This is just insane.  I would not even know how to respond.

This is also why I'm super weird about the idea of having anyone else drive my kids anywhere.  I just don't trust that they'll take car seat safety as seriously as DH and I do.