To just think AAARGH you utter scumbag.

[SlackAlice1]

I know I’m not BU. I’m just ranting.

In town with DH. We hear a little EEK of brakes. Not, you know, a screech but enough to make a noise.

We look to the road and there’s a car next to us whose driver has had to brake sharply to avoid hitting the car in
front. Obviously he didn’t notice til the last second because he’s LOOKING DOWN AT HIS PHONE.

Next to him in the passenger seat is a young woman WITH A BABY UNSECURED ON HER LAP.

How fucking thick and irresponsible do you have to be? EVERYONE knows the dangers of having a baby on your lap.

I’m raaaaging. In fact yes. I’m FUMMING.

Not quite shaking but close.

They went into a car park so I reported to 101 with the number plate. Hopefully the car park may have cctv to catch them getting in/out of the car? Does anyone know if the police will even try?

For short emergency journey, you get into the BACK of the car with the baby and the driver drives VERY slowly, not looking at his phone!

DP and I once had a horrible run-in with a woman who screeched to a halt outside a pharmacy on a busy A road and ran in for her meds. She'd left her little toddler, around 18 months I'd say, on the back seat, completely unsecured. No car seat, nothing.

DP was in the pharmacy, I was waiting outside.

In an unreal moment, I saw the toddler climb over the car seats into the passenger seat and open the car door and tumble out - luckily it was the pavement side or he's have been instantly killed by the traffic whizzing past. I took him in to the pharmacy and long story short we all said she mustn't leave with the toddler in the car till he was safely secured, and offered to help; she refused and grabbed the toddler's hand really roughly and dragged him outside, and we called the police.

DP stood and blocked the car driving away.

The woman called her father, who appeared soon enough and threatened to beat us all up. Pharmacist stuck his head out and said the police are on their way, while I tried to de-escalate with the woman's dad.

The woman and her dad were only concerned about the police, not the little boy.

The family dumped the car and legged it on foot.

The police never arrived.

They should turn up but our local police didn't even turn up recently to someone being attacked and left bleeding needing surgery, as they were busy. So if they turned up to this I'd very surprised.

Don't. If your local community group is anything like ours it will be full of nutters who will probably turn it round on you.

I reported some hideous driving once- made worse because I could see a toddler jumping up and down on the back seat. (In an effort to overtake someone he swerved into a petrol station, nearly knocked someone over, mounted the pavement and accelerated away.
The lady on 111 ask me what I wanted to happen. I said I wanted it down on the system as a driver putting a child in danger- so if the police saw him again, they might be more inclined to pull him over. I've no idea if she did, or if it made a difference.

There’s an option to post anonymously.

I work in a drive thou and at see at least 5/6 cars a day with people not wearing seatbelts/on their phones/kids with no car seat/kids climbing all over the back seat/ babies in arms/child sat in the drivers lap/weed smells/smoking with kids in the car/kids in a car seat but not strapped into it/heads hanging out of the window

One awful car had the child hanging out of the sunroof while the car was moving

Another was in a baby seat,on the back seat,no seatbelt but mum had her hand on the handle

Police couldn't give less of a fuck even though there is cctv

It's shocking how little people value their kids

Every single shift

I’m not the tiniest bit surprised about the baby on the woman’s lap.
I was talking to an ex-fireman who had attended a lot of car accidents. He said this is very common. Some people believe it’s safer to have the baby on their lap because they’re holding them! They don’t believe they’ll be in an accident. And they have no idea how violently the baby would be thrown forward, and how hard they’d hit the windscreen, and that this wouldn’t be just a little bump but fatal. We see posts here on MN about a child’s grandparents driving a child around with no car seat and sometimes on the GM’s lap.
No doubt the texting driver thinks he’s a “good driver” and will therefore never have an accident.
We have laws, because people don’t always make sensible decisions. But if the police aren’t bothered about enforcing them, people will carry on putting their kids at risk.

Emergencies happen. You don’t need to think outside of the box to know that.

Once, DH dropped me off at my parents which was then a 2 hour drive away and I only realised the next morning we left the pushchair in the car. DS had a cold and that night, he was struggling to breathe (viral wheeze). Had no choice but to call a taxi to take us to the hospital with DS in my lap. He ended up being admitted to the high dependency unit for several days.

So yes, there was an excuse. Appreciate that was a rare exception but that is exactly why the legislation allows it in emergencies.