To find Baby on board car signs pointless and rather irritating.

[VickyLouT]

I just don't get it. What purpose do these signs serve? I totally understand why you might wear a baby on board badge on the tube, that has a purpose. But why a car sign? Are other drivers supposed to be behave differently around you "more safely" or perhaps just be forewarned that you may have poor driving or parking as you may be sleep deprived. Aibu to find this pointless signalling irritating? Maybe someone with one of these signs share why?

I am a shopaholic and it was just another (pointless) thing I could buy 🤣🤣 Also partly proud of being a mum 🤦🏼‍♀️

@ButtercupOfFlorin

Has anyone heard the urban myth about the firefighter who came to an accident and saw there was a BOB sticker, so searched for a child - he (because of course it’s a man) looked and looked, slowly panicking, and he took so long that the car BLEW UP and he died. Because cars just randomly blow up. And trainef first responders need a shitty yellow triangle instead of, you know, using their eyes to identify a child in a car. so take them off when your kids aren’t in the car

Did the BOB sticker survive the explosion as well as the crash? Was it the only thing remaining?

For the people asking why they annoy people... I think it's just because it's essentially asking everyone else around you to give a shit about your baby as much as you do. Which is generally quite annoying.

If these stickers genuinely deterred dickheads from driving dangerously etc. then I'd like to see the existence of "dog in boot" stickers. A kid in a British standard car seat probably stands significantly better chances than a dog in the boot of a car.

@Amichelle84

We have one, I just assumed it was the done thing to try a discourage idiot drivers or to try and stop people parking too close.

So weird what annoys people - does it really matter? Not doing any harm at all. People are so weird on this site.

This. What’s the big deal? Have one or not.

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair

Usually when this is asked someone will come along and say it's so that if you have an accident the emergency services will know to look for a child

Like they actually think that's what they do

I can't help as I have absolutely no idea what they are for.

I remember when they were first introduced and that was what they were for.

@Howareyouflower not true unfortunately...

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_on_board

I’ve got one as a sort of explanation to other drivers as to why I might be driving more slowly and carefully and as a sign on my local country roads that no I won’t be breaking the speed limit just because you are tailgating me.

I also hope it will make others give us a bigger distance for safety as hopefully nobody wants to be responsible for hurting a baby (whereas some people don’t seem to care at all about hurting the average adult passenger)

I think people have given up RTFT at this point...

They make me roll my eyes. I have kids, I just don't feel the need to tell other drivers to take more care than usual. I find them a bit precious/patronising and look at me.

I also agree it's ironic when they're on cars being driven by total tossers.

@Theluggage15

The emergency services look harder if it says Princess on Board. This is a true fact.

Now those made me almost want to ram the idiot driving the car! We first encountered BOB signs in the 70s in Germany, long before they became common here and at the time I don't think that car seats were as secure as they are today, they could only be used when a baby could sit up for instance. BOB signs could be got from ADAC for free, ADAC = RAC/AA.

The emergency services look harder if it says Princess on Board. This is a true fact.

Smart lane cameras on the motorway pick them up, and close the lane to everyone else, so the Princess can speed through

@Stroopwaffle5000 But this is MN completely different to the real world- of course you're not allowed to be even a bit proud of carrying a child for 9 months then giving birth to it and bringing it up! Apparently it makes you entitled! People who think like this are weirdos though 🤣. And @JudgeJ if you feel the need to ram a car just because it has a Bob sign then you shouldn't be on the road

@Movingsoon21

I’ve got one as a sort of explanation to other drivers as to why I might be driving more slowly and carefully and as a sign on my local country roads that no I won’t be breaking the speed limit just because you are tailgating me.

I also hope it will make others give us a bigger distance for safety as hopefully nobody wants to be responsible for hurting a baby (whereas some people don’t seem to care at all about hurting the average adult passenger)

If you genuinely and knowingly drive less safely when your child isn’t in the car, then you are a dick and shouldn’t be on the road. Especially if you expect other people to take extra care when you are driving your child.

My commute is on horrible windy country roads. I drove more slowly when I had DD with me (think 50 in 60 at worst). There aren’t many places to overtake so there are often arseholes tailgating people until they can overtake. I hoped my sign would at least indicate why I’m driving like miss daisy and possibly guilt them into laying off a bit. I let people by me to when I can and don’t deliberately hold traffic up but there has been serious crashes on my road taking corners too fast and Im scared this
could happen to me me with DD in car.

It never crossed my mind the signs are seen as boasting you have a baby. My hope when using it was that tailgaters are less likely to harass if they know a baby is in the car. They may not give a shit about bumping into a slow driver (coz they deserve it in their eyes🙄) but I would hope they’d feel differently about potentially harming a baby. But maybe I’m wrong 😑

I drove more slowly when I had DD with me (think 50 in 60 at worst).

This is the point PP was making - you have a BOB sign to let people know to drive carefully around your baby, but you only drive more slowly in return when your baby is on board.. so you don't afford others the same courtesy you are looking for when you have DD on board

I got one free with a mirror I put in the back so I can see my daughter

I used to say they were stupid too before I had a baby

But I put the one I had up in the hopes that someone driving like a lunatic behind me might think twice

@MrsDeadpool of course I don’t drive dangerously when they’re not in the car

I just drive slowly (ie beneath the speed limit and being very cautious around bends and going through narrow spots) when with DC. I think a lot of drivers find this sort of slow, very careful driving irritating so I have the sign as an explanation as to why I’m doing it, so they don’t just ram into the back of me in frustration, as has happened to some people I know

I think that these stickers have been very devalued.
Having said that , the firefighter husband of a friend once said that these stickers are irrelevant as firefighters check the car almost forensically as most of the time, there is no baby on board. Yet they have to make sure, just in case, and possibly endanger their own lives in doing so.

A tailgater will take absolutely no notice of one of these stickers.

Because I would hope the tailgaters think twice once they see the baby on board sign.

When I did my psychology degree decades ago there was a theory that men were 'signposting' their virile status with these signs. Might be as reliable as the emergency services theory though.
I saw one once that said "ADULT ON BOARD, I WANT TO LIVE TOO!" that made me smile.
On a previous thread about this one poster said her first child died, and she displayed this sign with her second child as (irrationally) she felt it was something she could do to try to preserve his life. After reading that I tried to stop being so judgemental.
In saying that though a friend of ours refused to borrow our car for the day because we didn't have a BOB sign. I did judge that.

This is the point PP was making - you have a BOB sign to let people know to drive carefully around your baby, but you only drive more slowly in return when your baby is on board so you don't afford others the same courtesy you are looking for when you have DD on board

I get it, but I still drive carefully though and give it take the same speed anyway and don’t tailgate other cars, which is my target audience for the sign. I don’t expect others to drive more slowly around me - just don’t sit on my arse dangerously.

@Irridescantshimmmer

The baby on board signs are to remind other drivers not to drive like a bunch of nutters or they could kill or cause serious harm to a baby.

I know I would not like a heavy weight like that on my consciounce.

But you wouldn't be bothered about killing or causing serious harm to an older child or an adult?

Come off it.

@TheNinny

It never crossed my mind the signs are seen as boasting you have a baby. My hope when using it was that tailgaters are less likely to harass if they know a baby is in the car. They may not give a shit about bumping into a slow driver (coz they deserve it in their eyes🙄) but I would hope they’d feel differently about potentially harming a baby. But maybe I’m wrong 😑

Seriously, how many people risk causing hundreds of pounds' worth of damage to their cars just for the satisfaction of letting a slow driver know they're annoyed? Especially nowadays when people have dash cams?

seriously, how many people risk causing hundreds of pounds' worth of damage to their cars just for the satisfaction of letting a slow driver know they're annoyed? Especially nowadays when people have dash cams?

I don’t know, it was a shit attempt at sarcasm. But judging by the amount of people who tailgate me regularly when driving the speed limit, as you say risking hundreds of pounds worth of damage, I can hazard a fair few. Why else tailgate someone ridiculously other than to intimidate them and let them know your pissed off at going slow 🤷‍♀️

It’s because people want to boast about having a baby but say they’re doing something virtuous to help the emergency services.