Parents not having car seats for their children

[bicyclefish]

The other day I came out of the supermarket and saw a couple getting into their car with the lady in the back seat strapped in with a CHILD on her lap (less than a 2 year old) and a slightly older child (maybe 4 or 5 ) strapped in but with no child seat or even a booster. I went across to them and told them in what was probably an overly abrupt manner that they should under no circumstances do what they were doing and that i was taking his number down and reporting him. He told me to F off and that he was 'only going up the road anyway'. Oh right thats ok then, accidents never happen on the short trip back from the supermarket... ahem..a little wound up by his lack of care for the people in his care i then told him that if he got back into his car and tried to drive away i would physically stand in front of it and sue him for assault if he drove into me... I know, i know..
upshot is, he got the family back out and went home and got the car seats that they did actually own but didn't see fit to put into the car..FFS
AIBU or should i have minded my own business?

Thank you Maryz

It is very infrequently that something I read on a forum winds me up. I suppose I just have an aversion to jumped up little people trying to rule the world and those that feel they have a God-given right to interfere in whatever the hell they like.

Drinks herbal tea

Good luck with that. Pressed charges? Really?

I would have taken my slap on the wrist gladly and hope that i'd run over your toes into the bargain

GangstersLoveToDance - on the contrary, I have no desire to rule the world nor do i do a great deal of jumping, but i do however take offence to people who treat their children as a right or an accessory without giving them the due care and 'God given' right to a safe and harm free upbringing.

GangstersLoveToDance - Good for you! Teaching your children that not only do you not care about their safety, you also advocate violence if things aren't 'going your way'.
Good luck at the 2014 Parent of the Year Awards this year!

FYI - GangstersLoveToDance ref: i would have had you arrested and pressed charges.

Out of interest, just how many people have ever, in, oh, say the last twenty years, been arrested and charged on your say so? You seem to have a long list of "I'd report them! They'd be charged!" things, so presumably you've actually done this and can tell us how it went.

Would I have done the same as the op?

Probably not because I'm not particularly good at confrontation with strangers and usually Im not that observant when supermarket shopping (more of a get in, get out asap type of shopper)

However we have an old classic car which doesn't have any seatbelts front or back and we do let ds ride in it (this is legal as he's over 3 and sits in the back) so I tend to think I'm not in the best position to judge anyone else.

Bicyclefish, you're not really answering the question posed above. Which is, if you are so passionate about transportation safety, why are you not living close to public transport links? Did you google the safest mode of transport and then try to find housing near transport links?

friday16 - none.
Point?
but for the record, if someone did assult me i would press charges, so one would imagine the police would charge that person, that's kind of how the law works I thought? Maybe they would be too busy visiting people to give them a telling off for not straping their children into car seats..

You've watched too many American Cop shows Bicycle.

It's not for you to 'press charges' or demand any sort of charge or action. The police/CPS would make that call after you'd reported a non incident.

Crowler - Are you being purposefully obtuse? The question referred to is a facile point and, if you read the whole post instead of cherry picking you will find my answer within but, to save you the time so you can concentrate more fully on the Jeremy Kyle show instead of sharing the limited brain capacity heald between two or more processes, I will restate...
Actually, no i wont. read the posts.

YABU
It's down to the man and his family what arrangements he makes for travelling in the car. It is nothing to do with you.
As long as they were wearing seat belts, then carseats and booster seats are just extra security
my brother died in 1988 as a back seat passanger, there were no seat belts fitted- he was 17

Bicycle restraining you to prevent you from commiting a criminal act ie detaining someone against their wishes is not assault. If you called the police in that situation you would be the one arrested. The police do not charge people on your say so they look at the facts instead. Did you do the right thing in this situation? No. The right thing for the children was for you to call the police, if the police caught them then there would be repercussions instead of just inconvenience. What you did is unlikely to stop them next time but a fine points and likely visit from ss would.

GangstersLoveToDance - Well feel free to go test your theories out and I will go right along with my theory that, if the police are going to do anything about a report by someone that they spotted someone else not using a car seat fro their children that they would be equally interested in someone who is claiming to have been assaulted by someone else.

insancerre - sorry for your loss, but you are incorrect, it is NOT up to the man and his family it is the law but, further, it is also common sense and decency. Your lack of clarity in this is disturbing and frightening, especially given your own personal circumstances and experiences.

jacks365 - what criminal act was I committing exactly standing in a car park of a supermarket, hence provate land?
Lets not try to get all clever.

private
#spellcheck
(i told you i was ready for the haters)

Is it very clear then, that having a small toddler strapped into a car seat belt with an adult behind them is very much more dangerous than having an independent car seat? Surely the adult functions much like a car seat in this scenario?

I think the issue with car seats is that they offer false security, apparently about 40% are not fitted correctly and don't offer nearly the protection you think because people don't fit the straps around them correctly (I know myself I've driven when they are twisted).

I also read that after a certain age (probably about 5), it's very unclear that boosters are safer, for the same reason, people don't fit them correctly, and that keeping the child in the adult belt may be just as safe overall (maybe not safer than a correctly fitted booster, but the overall rate of incorrectly fitted ones balances out the risk).

I would not interfere with children strapped in but not with boosters because I don't think the evidence is entirely clear, and they have an exemption to claim anyway, the police for sure would never prosecute although they would warn them to do better next time:

2. if the child is travelling on a short distance for reason of unexpected necessity

It is not the law, stop saying is is the law. The law has an exemption which could easily be claimed by them and your argument would be laughed out of court (although it would never make it there).

If you were stood in front of a car preventing the people leaving then you were unlawfully detaining them. Private land is irrelevant for that law but oddly enough not for the car seat law so the driver couldn't have been arrested for that till he left. You however could have been.

bicyclefish It's not as simple as that. You would think that if someone assulated you then you could report them, the ploice would arrest them and charge them and then they would go to court.
The thing that is missing, is the evidence.
It would be your word against theirs unless you have reliable witnesses and unlikley to go to court.
My brother was assualted but the assaliant was never charged because of lack of evidence. He was so badly assulated he was unconcious and nearly died from a traumatic brain injury. The brain injury meant he was unable to remember anything and as there were no witnesses,there was no evidence. The bastard claimed it was an accident.
So, don't assume that the law will protect you when you are confronting people about their actions.
You put yourself at risk unnecessarily.

Maryz - Thanks for your unbiased view.
"Grrr, someone standing up to me - right, I'm off to report them..."
Whether you personally believe me is of no concern, if you sling mud, don't expect to come out with clean hands.
What exactly is it that you find so hard to believe about me being a newbie here?
That I am not all meek and easy to browbeat or that I have a moral compass that is set way off from your own?

Recently I was getting into my car when I noticed a man popping his toddler into the front passenger seat of he car beside me. No child restraint.

I wanted to say something to him but I hesitated in case he got angry.

So I phoned police. Next thing I hear a huge bang and this guy has driven smack into another car which had stopped unexpectedly. Couldn't believe it.

The police were not interested. Not one jot.

The ops sense of self importance and lack of basic knowledge about the police and how they work reminds me of my sisters view of the world.

My sister is 14