Woman flying along with newborn in the front

[Ithastobeacbeebiesday]

Can’t get this out of my head.
Yesterday, Dh, Dd and I were on the motorway and a woman joining onto our lane on the left, nearly crashed into us. She didn’t slow down or stop, so Dh had to slow right down, she came flying past and we saw she was talking/arguing? On her phone, gesticulating madly and that there was a buggy in the back and baby in a baby seat in the passenger seat.
We were in such shock at first at the way she was driving and thought she’d crash into us, then saw, she was on the phone, then the baby. It was one of those tiny smart cars, so no seats in the back, is this legal?
Dh was beeping loudly at her and said after that he wanted to follow her (we had to turn off)
Not sure regarding laws (we’re in another country) but surely this isn’t legal, cannot get over how she could drive like that with a baby in the car, such a strange sight to see.

Your DH WBU to beep at her; very distracting. Who knows what kind of emergency she was trying to get to. Nobody was harmed. Move on.

@ItsBritneyBitch45 ? I don’t want any of you to do anything about it, can no one just post something that happened to see if legal etc 🙈

You were so both worried about the baby that you turned off instead of following her and trying to get the license plate. Sorry, that doesn't strike me as worried.

@NCFT0922 How do you know she was getting to an emergency and not being a dangerous driver on her phone, she could’ve killed anyone

"How could we call the police, we couldn’t even get the number plate etc, the speed she went at"

But you saw the buggy, the baby and her arguing on a phone?

Was she actually on a phone in her hand, or what she on a handsfree (which is perfectly legal)

If you are approaching a slip road with vehicles joining from the left, its common courtesy to move into the middle lane to allow them to get onto the slip road, not carry on and expect them to stop.

@PrincessPoodle We had to meet someone to give our old Christmas tree and Dh was saying he wanted to follow her. We would’ve ended up miles away but we’re saying should we have followed etc

I'mi drive with my 10 month old in the front passenger all the time

Disabled sue bags, backward facing,.. I can't explain why but he screams bloody murder if in the back

Speed and on phone obviously wrong but no idea why you thought a baby safely in a car seat couldn't go in the front?

Of course you can have babies in the front seat, some cars only have two seats so you’d be unable to transport a child in one if you couldn’t! The air bag must be disabled though.
Being on the phone and driving like a lunatic is obviously very wrong, however.

If it's not in the UK why ask. Different countries have different laws.

In the UK she can speak in the phone if it’s not in her hand.
She can’t have been going that fast if you saw as many details as you say you did (gesticulating, talking, buggy in the back).
Why did your DH not move lanes to let her merge?

@Dartmoorcheffy Obviously on her mobile, with her mobile in her hand and yes it was easy to see her on the phone and the baby in the seat with the buggy in the back window as she drove off, less easy to remember the car number and write it down in time.

There was no middle lane, it doesn’t work like that where we are, she was joining the motorway from her left, it has a line marking if she can’t join. Not always possible for the traffic on her left (us) to move straight into the other left hand lane (the fast lane) cars fly down that road, she needed to slow right down, she didn’t even look where she was going

Honestly I'm staggered that she was so fast you couldn't get her registration plate, but at the same time you managed to take in so much detail about the interior of her car.

@Facecream Because he didn’t have chance to go into the left lane to the side of us (the fast lane) cars fly down, so he had to slow right right down and luckily no one close behind us

@QueSyrahSyrah Ok.

Obviously I was being more dramatic in my head than I should have been, seemed crazy to me at the time!
Thanks everyone

I'm impressed that this all happened so quickly and yet you could see that the baby in the car seat was a newborn, and also that you knew she was arguing on the phone! She could have been singing along to something full voice, or maybe talking loudly because of a bad line... You can't possibly know that she was having an argument from just a fleeting look.

She definitely shouldn't have been using a handheld phone (even if you're somewhere where it's legal, it doesn't make it less dangerous) and it does sound like she wasn't fully concentrating as a result, but there's a lot of conclusions being jumped to.

Did your husband adjust speed to allow her to join the carriageway? Or was he distracted/not paying attention and hadn't noticed another car coming down the slip road?

Bad driving, speeding being on phone = illegal and wrong

Beeping your horn in anger = illegal and wrong

Car seat in front = legal if correctly fitted

Other countries may have different laws.

India you'll see 2 adults and 3 children on a motorbike and the woman ride sideways due to their attire.

YABU by not stating which country you are in and therefore how can anyone know the legality

What is the point of asking if you don't even say what country you are in? You said it wasn't the UK so different rules perhaps?

@Ithastobeacbeebiesday how do you know she wasn’t?

You aren’t “supposed” to stop before joining a motorway or A road.
you would stop if the left lane was impossible to join.
Drivers on the left lane are supposed to move over or slow down, not carry on as if there were a Yield or Stop sign.
Do you drive OP?
The slip road traffic is aiming to join the motorway at the same speed as cars 🚘 n the motorway, not stop and pootle along trying to reach 70 miles an hour which is far more dangerous than your DH reading the road ahead and joining the right hand lane (which btw is not a “fast lane” - it is for overtaking)

She sounds like a delight, but yes, driving with a baby in the front is perfectly legal (in the UK at least), so long as the airbag is switched off.

It saved my refluxy son many a choking incidents in his early days to have him up front with me so I could see him.

What's your AUBU?

I don't think anyone's going to say she was driving safely and with due care.

Do you just want to get it off your chest?

LOL at the "Similar thread" - all about flying. MNHQ - flying doesn't always mean being in a aeroplane!

With only the driver (usually the man) with a helmet.....cos you gotta think of the safety!

Again, depends where you are what their highway code is for joining a motorway.