The road to hell is paved with goods intentions... and stupidity...

As you probably know by now, I have little tolerance for idiots.  I am not, however, unreasonable about it. I can forgive a little bit of ignorance, with the expectation that if someone IS ignorant, they will make every attempt to educate themselves, especially with regards to their child's safety.

I admit that I am a bit of a carseat nut.  When I was very young, I once witnessed the aftermath of an accident, in which a baby (held on its mother's lap) went through the windshield of the car.  Until you've seen something like that, you can not appreciate the horror of it.  So I figure that if there is ANY way to prevent something like that from happening, then I will do it -- and quite frankly, I expect others to as well.  I am usually disappointed.

Once, while wearing a jacket with the name of a government agency on it, I actually followed a car that had an improperly installed carseat, and when they pulled over I got out, approached them, and then installed the seat properly for them!  Given the name on the jacket, I'm sure they were a bit frightened, but at least I can rest easily knowing that there's one more child out there that is a bit more protected.

There aren't that many things that you can do to protect someone else's child, but there IS something simple and easy: stop donating your old carseats!  Or, rather, don't donate a carseat that is outdated (too old, not just an older model), one that is inherently less safe (an overhead shield), or, most importantly, that has been in an accident.  For god's sake, any carseat that has been in a moderate to severe accident must be destroyed.  If you know a carseat is unsafe, then you should destroy it (overhead shield carseats, as seen here, are actually shown to CAUSE injury).  And if your carseat is over 6 years old, it should be destroyed (the plastic breaks down after five to six years, and is therefore more likely to fail in an accident).

There are services available to get free to low-priced carseats if you can't afford one (thanks to bellaonline.com for writing up the information).  There are people who are willing to directly donate or sell carseats that have a verified background.  And there are even low-cost NEW carseats available (for as low as $50, not even on sale).  Even carseats that are made by terrible companies (*cough* Cosco *cough*) are better than anything you're going to get at the thrift store.  As long as you use the carseat properly EACH AND EVERY TIME, and you keep up with recalls, you will be protecting your child to the best of your ability.  But using a carseat wrong is even more dangerous than any of the problems that I listed.  If your carseat resembles any of these photos, then your child could DIE, understand?  So be careful.  Because no matter how YOU feel, your child matters to ME.

Comments

[Gissel]

Gee, this drives me nuts too!! Every time I see a car with people on the front seat holding a baby, in a city with one of the highest rates of traffic accidents, I want to yell at them! Not to speak of cellphones. Even some bus drivers speak on their cellphones while driving (I use to report them on the company's website). And some people talk on their cellphones AND smoke at the same time. That leaves like two, perhaps three fingers free to hold the wheel.

Definitely, stupidity is a capital sin. There should be some kind of tax on it, at least.

[The Queen of the Blog]

The sitting on the lap thing is, thankfully, relatively rare. (That picture is of Britney Spears driving with her son). But something like 75% of all users install their carseats incorrectly. And lots of people buy them based on things like Consumer Reports. CR doesn't test carseats the way that safety testing is done, so their "best" isn't the safest. And I could do a whole post on how Cosco makes terrible carseats. Still safer than NONE, though.

[Ginny]

Good one, I'm proud of you. Safety first, last and always for the little ones.

[The Queen of the Blog]

Thanks! :)