Am interested in opinions .... what would you do in this situation?

[ghosty]

Through Facebook I have got in touch with many members of my extended family, many of whom I have never physically met. I have loads of first cousins, all a fair bit older than me and many of them have adult children now. One of those adult children has married and had a baby and his wife has made friend with me on FB ... all lovely and hunky dory.
Today she posted a whole lot of photos on FB of her DH's sister's recent visit to them (remember that these are cousins I have never met and the one I am in contact with is the cousin's wife). There are a few photos of them going off for a nice family day out and they took photos in the car of the sleeping baby and each other etc.

BUT. The baby (6 months old) is sitting on his auntie's lap in the back of the car and all the adults are safely strapped in. No car seat. No seatbelt for the baby. Sitting on his auntie's knee, asleep

I will admit to feeling sick. I haven't said anything to them. I don't even know these people.

What would you do in this situation.

You know, if it was true that Not Owning a Car Seat means instant death then the world would be a very empty place by now. Because all those of us who were little before the invention of car seats would, presumably, be dead.
These people are probably car-free and were accepting an unexpected lift, hence no car seat. They don't appear to have died.

If it was your child, then you could express a preference about how it is transported.

Their child, up to them I'm afraid.

solidgold is right - car seats are a good thing on the whole, but plenty of countries get along fine without them.

When dd1 was a baby and I used a taxi I was instructed to strap myself in and hold her on my lap outside of the belt.

I used to breastfeed like that on a long car journey.

I wouldn't do it now obviously because of the rule changes but at the time I didn't feel uneasy.

It may be rules are more relaxed where they are. It would never occur to me to note if people in photos were doing things 'wrong', let alone think that I should do something about it.

update your facebook status with the following:

" X is annoyed at how some people can take risks with their children and NOT strap them in car seats"

Job Done

I would do what Lilymolly said!

This opinion might make me slightly unpopular, but I'm going to be honest. I'm in the UK, and would not dream of travelling without strapping my kids in.
However, like most people on here, carseats were not the law, nor indeed the norm when I was growing up. An adult holding a child on their lap would ahve been considered the safest way to travel in the 80s.
If the adult is strapped in with a seatbelt, adn is holding the child securely, this is probably the safest alternative if no car seat is available. If you were travelling by Taxi, this is how you would be expected to sit, and I believe this is perfectly legal even today.
Don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in carseats being the safest way to go, but I sometimes get a little when people go on as if they are the be all and end all, when most of us here never sat in them as children.
I'm going to get flamed now, I can feel it.

Anyone know the stats on death in an accident with and without a car seat?

I don't.

Ah a quick google but its a bit vague, only about injuries.

www.motorstoday.co.uk/THIRD-OF-ALL-CRASH-DEATHS-DUE-TO-LOSS-OF-CONTROL.1192.news

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) welcomed the fact that the number of children aged under 12 injured in car accidents in Great Britain fell by more than 1,000 in the first full year since the introduction of the new car seat law.

Kevin Clinton, RoSPA's road safety head, added: "It shows that child car seats work and when children are using the correct restraint for their size they have a better chance of surviving an accident."

I don't understand the argument "but we never had car seats in the 60s/70s/80s and we're ok".

Um, yes, because we were just very lucky that we weren't killed in an accident - and those that weren't so lucky can't exactly post that on MN.

Have you ever seen someone's face after they've been through a windscreen?

Yeah, my grandmother could post 'we never had penicillin when I was growing up and I survived'. Wouldn't mean penicillin wasn't a huge breakthrough, was it?

Ghosty, I'd be shocked, like you, but I don't think there's anything you can actually do about it.

No, sidge, I haven't, and I agree I'm very lucky that I haven't. I was very careful in my post to point out that I do think carseats are important, and that the world is better for them.
However, the OP is talking about people she does not know, in a country where she does not know the law.
I really think that in this situation it is best to simply butt out, and accept that there are far worse ways in which people neglect their children. An adult who is strapped in holding a baby firmly is not the worst way to travel, and is probably the best alternative if no car seat is available.
I just think it is unfair to judge these people without knowing their situation.