would you stop on a hard shoulder for this?

[eeniemeenieminiemoe2014]

say you know the next services isnt for 8 miles on a motorway and your houdini of a toddler manages to undo her harness and stand up in her seat.. eould you stop on the hard shoulder? or carry on the 8 miles?

I would stop, but I'd pull in as hard as possible to the far side, away from traffic.

There are big risks to do with being on the hard shoulder, but I think they've been publicised so much because people used to think it was ok to stop for things like taking a phonecall, having a wee, or whatever. Yes, it's not perfectly safe, but neither is an unrestrained toddler!

I would stop.

As to consequences - this is one of the exceptions to a no smacking philosophy that I have. The other situation is toddlers or children running onto the road on foot.

she is very likely to be autistic, she cant make the link between the danger and she also cant link consequences to the behaviour. Even if I smacked her within two seconds of her doing it, she wouldnt make the link that it was for the behaviour.

We stopped on the hard shoulder as we had a screaming hysterical baby in the back
A police patrol stopped behind us and came to see what was going on , saw the purple hysteria that was DD and just advised us to be careful rejoining the traffic

A smack?!!! Christ. Nothing like a bit of corporal punishment to ensure our children stay safe, eh

should add I wouldnt smack her but just trying to explain she hasnt got the understanding yet for much to work

Absolutely.

I have a friend though who drives around with her youngest breaking free of her car seat all the time, she's not even two yet. My friend has admitted to driving on a motorway without her youngest being strapped in her car seat. I was absolutely

I would so stop, and it's one of a very few things that I raise my voice (a lot) about. Thankfully DS1 has only done it that one time, and I was very glad not to be on a motorway or major road as I was able to pull over and park up safely.

If she's undoing her brother as well stopping is essential to make sure they're both properly secured. The thought of having a crash with a baby not securely in their car seat fills me with horror.

I think I would be Googling toddler-proof harnesses and finding toys to occupy her! Maybe some kind of puzzle or something to "unlock"?

We stopped on the hard shoulder of an A road when toddler DS unstrapped himself.
A traffic patrol car saw us stop and pulled up behind us.

When they saw what we were doing they just advised us to get going once he was secured.

We had this. Dh was driving, ds was 2, I was pregnant.

Dh pulled over, I went round to ds, did up his seatbelt and very deliberately shouted right in his face. Something along the lines of "Never, ever do that again! The seatbelt stays done up! Hands AWAY from the buckle!"

Yes, I scared ds. Not proud. But he never did it again.

she isnt into toys, the only tbings that occupy her ever is putting things into boxes and pouring between containers. neither possible in the car :( plus she has a horrendous habit of throwing anything she can grab at me whn driving. she just does not get it

My d's was like this at her age but he's grown out of it and is now the most safety conscious 9yr old ever. It was a nightmare at the time

Get a new car seat? Don't think she's be able to escape from one of these?

Have a look on amazon. There are loads of things you can buy to stop them doing this. Special needs websites have stuff too but it tends to cost £££s.

A smack?!!! Christ. Nothing like a bit of corporal punishment to ensure our children stay safe, eh

Correct. The escape artistry only happened once.

Didn't see your update. Very difficult if she doesn't connect cause and effect. Are there SN products that can help? The trouble is that any product that she cannot work out how to open is likely also to be too difficult for the emergency services to open in a hurry.

Is this a serious question?

Why the hell would you NOT stop?

The hard shoulder is for emergencies. A child coming undone in the car is a safety hazard, ergo an emergency. What do you THINK the hard shoulder is for OP?!

Of my three, only DD2 once did this. My reaction was much the same as Goody. She didn't repeat it.

And yes, in your situation I would stop.

Goody
You say you're not proud of it but I think your reaction was perfect.

You need a Besafe Belt Guard - less than a tenner. Stops escapees. Can order it online. And can you put rear doors on child lock so can't be opened from inside?

I would stop.

And I would do the shouting in their face thing.

You can get buckle guards to stop kids undoing them. Also some special needs cat seats have hidden buckles or other ways of stopping them getting out. Might be worth looking into.

What about a smart motorway? Where you only have laybys every so often. I'm not sure I wouldn't wait until there was somewhere safe to pullover rather than immediately pull over, but on a smart motorway you wouldn't really have that choice.