WWYD in this situation? Brother doesn’t use any car seats.

[flowergirl24]

Brother and SIL popped round for a party yesterday. When they left, I noticed that they didn’t have any car seats for their children. Their kids are 9,6 and 4. When I asked them, they just laughed and said that their car doesn’t go fast enough to be dangerous. (It really does - and surely the point is that others could crash into them??)

WWYD?

Nothing. It is their lookout. I might point out that they are breaking the law, and point to the relevant information, but otherwise there is nothing you can do.

Is it safe to assume he is your younger brother?

Unless you want to report to the police there’s not much you can do. It’s totally wrong that they don’t use car seats for the 4 and 6 year old (9year old not quite so bad) but it’s not that uncommon unfortunately. Have you never noticed they don’t use car seats before now?

My brother hardly ever uses car seats for his DC either. Apparently they don't need to because the kids are sensible and advanced for their ages.

Yes, I noticed it before but assumed it was a one off. Sadly, it isn’t and they just don’t bother. They are a bit chaotic when it comes to safety.

@HappiestSleeping older actually!

Well, they are idiots. Hopefully the police will pull the over before they are in an accident.

My sister does the same.

@DumbassHamsterSitterPerson That’s ridiculous! Have you ever confronted them?

Wow.. 😮 They are idiots. Poor kids!

Yes. I've been told that as I don't drive I don't understand. So not much I can do about it really. I could report them, but when I reported my ex for the same thing the police said they can't do anything.

One of our friends just uses a booster for her five yo dd. I researched this as I also have a 5 yo dd

I've decided to keep using a child seat as it offers support from the back and sides unlike a booster

Using nothing at all and saying the car doesn't go fast is rubbish. Other vehicles go fast. If they were rear ended at 70mph what protection will the children have? The more the better

My MIL doesn't use car seats when she takes my niece and nephew out. I think it's bonkers! (They are similar ages to your niece and nephew)
The police near me are very keen on it though and I know a few people who've been questioned about lack of car seats.

My ds is lax about car seat safety too, and it drives me mad. He just can’t be arsed faffing about getting them in and swapping seats if he’s using a different car. He is an idiot 😡

It's against the law - children must use at least a booster seat, until they are 12 years old or 135cm tall, whichever comes first. So their 9yo might be tall enough but the 4 and 6yo should have seats legally for sure.

I'm sure their car goes as fast as any other car or it wouldn't be on the road.

Sadly what you do tend to see in statistics is children whose parents don't use child seats are also statistically more likely to have other risky driving behaviours like careless driving, speeding and sometimes drink driving too - so those children are overrepresented in car accidents not only because they are more likely to be injured but because they are more likely to be in a crash in the first place.

Let's hope they never have to live with the consequence of their twattish actions

as bad as it sounds, theres not much the police can do unless they actually catch them driving their car with the kids in the back and no car seats, and even if you were lucky enough to get a police officer to stop them, they would receive a fine and sent on their way.. and you can guarantee, it wont make a blind bit of notice.

sadly the police simply do not have the time to sit around waiting for jo blogs to drive about with no kids in a car seat

Does your brother drive a classic car,OP? It's not compulsory for children to use child seats or booster seats in cars which don't have rear seatbelts fitted if they are four or over.