To Have Horrified By This And Refused To Get In Car?

[GoldenGytha]

I was out for lunch today with a friend, her niece and niece's two boys aged 4 and 1.

It was about a 20 minute drive along the dual carriageway to the place we went to for lunch, but after that friend's niece wanted to go to Matalan for some clothes for a forthcoming holiday.

When we got back into the car after lunch, Matalan was about a 5 minute drive back along the dual carriageway and niece told the 4 year old to just sit in his seat and not bother about his seatbelt as it was "only a couple of minutes along the road" She also didn't strap the baby into his seat.

I said "You can't do that, you must strap them both in, it's not safe" I was rather abruptly told that it was not my business, they'd be fine for all the distance they were going. I said I couldn't get in a car where a child wasn't safely strapped in, and that I was very uncomfortable with it.

After a lot of muttering and "FFS Golden, what a fuss to make about nothing, are you always this bad, and if it makes you fucking happy I'll strap them in"

I don't normally go about telling folk what to do with their kids, but this really shocked me, WIBU to have said something?

[lia66]

I was hit head on by a driver that lost control and careered into my people carrier last year. My large, heavy people carrier was totalled, I was badly injured ( including smashing into the windscreen despite wearing my seatbelt AND the airbag going off ).
My then just 2 yr old daughter escaped with a cut cheek from the imploding window beside her and seatbelt straps bruising to her shoulders WHERE HER STRAPS HAD POSSIBLY SAVED HER LIFE!

My journey? A 4 minute drive from a village to my house.

Irresponsible woman. You did the right thing.

[lia66]

I was hit head on by a driver that lost control and careered into my people carrier last year. My large, heavy people carrier was totalled, I was badly injured ( including smashing into the windscreen despite wearing my seatbelt AND the airbag going off ).
My then just 2 yr old daughter escaped with a cut cheek from the imploding window beside her and seatbelt straps bruising to her shoulders WHERE HER STRAPS HAD POSSIBLY SAVED HER LIFE!

My journey? A 4 minute drive from a village to my house.

Irresponsible woman. You did the right thing.

[peggyundercrackers]

Ohbyethen I have had kids in the dickie seat in the car, they were about 10ish. Yep I enjoy driving the a car as much as I can during the summer and use it as much as is practically possible - It doesn't go fast, maybe 50mph at the very most, it is bigger than most other cars on the road today and much heavier given it was built in the 1930s.

Given the car is a convertible fitting seatbelts would be difficult, the only option would be lap belts hence the reason I would refuse to have them fitted. Lap belts can cause lots of serious injuries that may be avoided if nothing at all is worn.

[YetAnotherHelenMumsnet]

Maryz, in the interests of clarity, what you actually posted was "Helen, why not just ban Julia, she has some rather, erm, interesting posts on a variety of subjects."

It was the "erm, interesting" that made me think you were suggesting that she was trolling. Everything's a judgement call, and if you were not seeking in any way to imply that she was a troll then of course I apologise.

Troll hunting is not merely saying "you are a troll" or "I don't believe you", it is enough to publicly insinuate that the person is a troll. A nod's as good as a wink, and all that. Rabbitrisen is correct, troll-hunting is not allowed under any circumstances, but as it was, the troll-hunters were closing the stable door long after the horse had bolted, thanks to the many posters who had already reported their concerns directly to HQ.

[ErrolTheDragon]

When I went to visit my dad after an eye op, there was a bloke in the ward who was probably going to lose the sight in an eye because of driving unbelted ... on his own driveway (no idea how TBH).

DD had a friend whose dog died after being thrown by sudden braking.

Stupid, unnecessary accidents. That's the point isn't it? Securing a child isn't a big problem, just do it. (and yes I know that sometimes belting a toddler can be like wrestling a noisy octopus, but its doable)

Piglet - there's a nice little falling body speed calculator here and google will convert m/s into mph.... how high is a house? say 9 metres... 26.8 mph. Yup. You wouldn't want a kid to do that.

[slithytove]

My post didn't get deleted even though I called her a troll!



probably will now though

[JustABitTired]

It's probably been said enough OP but YADNBU, am glad those kids had someone looking out for them.

I was a passenger in a car that hit a corner badly and rolled down a hill (a road hill, not grass) - the car was totalled, every bit of glass was smashed, we had to be carefully manuvered out of the upside down car but every person in the car got out without a single mark because we were wearing seatbelts. Without them we'd basically have been sitting in a blender. Anyone who travels without wearing one scares the sh*t out of me now.

[Appletini]

I won't reiterate all the very sensible points but would like to add that it really annoys me when people say this kind of th

[Appletini]

...thing isn't your business. If you're seeing something that's wrong it's absolutely your business to do something about it.

[AlpacaPicnic]

Just this week a young man has survived this crash due to his seatbelt. The car crashed so hard it ripped the engine out and yet all he has are broken bones.
Seatbelts save lives. I would never travel without one. YANBU.

[Louise1956]

I've never worried that much about safety belts because safety belts in the back are a fairly recent thing, I. Can remember when nobody had them and I have never known anyone come to harm through not using them. But i would never tell a child not to bother with them, apart from anythi g else what if you got stopped by the police. And i would certainly never neglect to strap a baby into its seat, since they can't really support themselves on their own at that age. It seems very odd not to strap the baby in, even if she didn't think the older child really needed the safety belt.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

"Can remember when nobody had them and I have never known anyone come to harm through not using them"

You know people who have had accidents while not wearing belts and they came to no harm?

[DioneTheDiabolist]

I can remember when no one had seat belts. That was round about the time when I was able to play loads of road based games (Cribby, proper skipping with singing and a really long rope and at least 5 people). Because there were much fewer cars around.

That was a different time.

[TillyTellTale]

Louise I don't actually have any real life friends with lung cancer, even though most of my family smoke.

Can I conclude from that, that tobacco doesn't cause lung cancer? And take up smoking?

Or should I listen to the evidence and be bloody grateful that lung cancer hasn't affected my family yet, and avoid smoking myself?

I think it's the second one.

[PolkaSpottyDotty]

I can remember my dad fitting seatbelts himself into every car we had before they were manufacturer fitted.

His brother, sister in law and their two DCs were hit by a drunk driver in the 1970s. None were wearing seatbelts. My uncle and older cousin survived, they were sitting in the front of the car with seatbelts on. The other passengers (rear seats, no belts) were killed outright, one was found in the footwell of the car with fatal injuries from being thrown around inside the car.

I know car design has changed since then, and the outcome of the same accident in a modern car would be different. But if they had been wearing seatbelts in the back too, then it is likely that dad's SIL and niece wouldn't be dead.

[PolkaSpottyDotty]

Sorry, I meant the none of the passengers were wearing seatbelts I need coffee

[JonesRipley]

Louise

You have known someone whose car truned over and they walked out unscathed despite not using seatbelts?

[KatieKaye]

The fact that in the past cars did not have seat belts is true.
It is also true that back then if you were in a car accident you were much more likely to sustain serious injuries or die.
Fact.

Seat belts save lives.
Fact.
There is never any argument for not wearing a seat belt.

Anyone else remember the "clunk click" campaign? (we won't mention th man who fronted it for obvious reasons) But the adverts ended with a metal hammer slamming into a ripe peach - a graphic illustration of the forces involved in an accident on human flesh. think about it. And then consider if you really want to run that unnecessary risk.

[HoneyDragon]

How can it be troll hunting if it's blatant out and out trollery under MNHQs own definition of troll?

I've given up reporting unpleasant people like Julia, or calling them on it. It's now got to the point where simply disagreeing with a volatile poster gets you accused by someone as troll hunting.

And you don't place conditions on an apology by using the word "if". It makes you look as big you don't believe the person you are apologising to

[JonesRipley]

Yes, i wonder why seatbelts were introduced?

Was it because so few people were killed without them?

[KatieKaye]

Back in the day it was not compulsory to wear motorcycle helmets either. Anyone think that's a good idea?

[Marylou62]

I was on a piece of waste land letting my DCs have a go at steering. Dc2 was on my knee, DC1 (7) was sitting in baby car seat, middle back, and DD was in passenger seat. all unstrapped. We were doing 5-10 mph and suddenly stopped/stalled. All the kids shot forward and DS1 actually hit the dashboard. No one was hurt but 10mph!! You WNBU at all and I would have done the same.

[GemmaPomPom]

You are as much at risk from someone else not wearing a seat belt as not wearing one yourself, so no, YWNBU. Both for looking out for the kids - and your - safety.

As an example, a family who lived near us took their 2 kids and their nanny out for a drive. The kids were strapped in but the nanny did not have a seat belt on. The car crashed, the nanny died instantly, but then her body fell on the children seriously injuring both of them.

[AskBasil]

Yep, if you choose not to wear a seatbelt, do it when you're alone in the car because you've got no right to risk your irresponsible corpse falling on someone else's body and killing them

That's why I won't go in a car with someone who won't wear a seatbelt; they're not just risking their own life, they're risking mine. It's incredibly arrogant and selfish as well as being stupid.