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Original poster

Baby On Board! What's the point?

50 replies

Emmastone123 · 02/02/2018 12:59

I'm having a baby in a few weeks. Someone suggested a Baby on Board sign for the car. I live and drive around central London (if that makes a difference).
What's the point of these signs? Do other drivers treat you differently? Do I need one?
Just a tad confused!
Thanks.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

sirlee66 · 03/02/2018 06:11

After a quick Google:

“The baby on board signs are there to alert the emergency services that there is a child in the car in the event of an accident. ... The Baby on board signs are believed to date back to the 1980s when they were first put on sale by the Safety 1st Corporation."

However, thats only coming from less than credible sources (Wikipedia, snopes and the telegraph) So I would take it with a pinch of salt.

Having said that, if there is even a small chance that having a sign in your car means emergency services can act quicker or a passer by phones more quickly or other motorists give the car more room instead of sitting up your bumper, then I will definitely be using one.

Argeles · 03/02/2018 06:14

I think the purpose is to try and remind other drivers not to act like complete cunts, and drive more carefully, and to try and deter them from committing road rage and abuse.

I live in West London, and the signs don’t seem to work here.

MrsDilber · 03/02/2018 06:18

Totally agree with you. In my car, it blocked the view out of my car, I'd have been a rubbish parent to have used it. I don't see the point.

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ApacheEchidna · 03/02/2018 06:26

I think the point of them is to help people who feel sad about how anonymous and unnoticeable they are as a person when driving a car. For the most part other road users don't have a clue who is driving the car in front. Like bumper stickers and other decorations a baby on board sign makes them feel they are expressing themselves.

There is no need to have one, even if you do have a baby on board.

Allington · 03/02/2018 06:48

Saw a great car sticker in Glasgow years ago that said 'No baby on board, please drive carelessly'

Which sums it up - there are completely unnecessary as the alternative is ridiculous.

Theducksarenotmyfriends · 03/02/2018 06:55

Some of these replies are ridiculous! Not everyone who has one is smug you know. I'm quite new to driving and was nervous about driving with the baby. I know the signs are probably pointless but it just helped me feel a bit more reassured that maybe people would drive a little more considerably if they saw it. It was more for me than anything else, nothing about being smug about having a baby!

redexpat · 03/02/2018 07:02

Ive also seen ones with "autism on board - may not follow verbal instructions" which I did think was a good idea in case of emergency.

Situp · 03/02/2018 07:10

There is a good article on them here

www.kickscount.org.uk/baby-on-boardhelp-or-hindrance/

Because people don't remove them when they take the kids out and people get them with more than one child's name on them they are not much use for informing emergency services.

Ifailed · 03/02/2018 07:25

Maybe they are for fans of The Be Sharps?

GoJohnnyGoGoGoGo · 03/02/2018 07:36

I've always been a sceptical fucker but as a mother of a PFB I bought one, put it in my car and forgot all about it. When DS was about 1 my car cut out on one of those motorway slip roads with traffic lights. I was terrified and thankfully a man parked up and helped push me out of the fast lane and on to the hard shoulder. Otherwise the next batch of cars could have hit me. He said he couldn't leave me stranded when he knew I had baby on board. So he obviously saw the sign and wanted to help. I'm sure he'd have helped anyway but his comment has always stayed with me so I used the sign again when we had DS2.

PotteringAlong · 03/02/2018 07:52

gojohhny I hope you take it out when you’re driving your car without children then...

ZivaDiva · 03/02/2018 08:25

There is not the slightest chance the emergency services will even notice if you have a sign or not so don’t let that idea influence your decision.

parrotonmyshoulder · 03/02/2018 08:28

I think they’re just something else for new parents to think they should buy, aren’t they? Or an easy gift for a baby shower/ new baby.

CapnHaddock · 03/02/2018 08:31

I’m sorry @Theducksarenotmyfriends - it doesn’t have that impact on me at all.

Fintress · 03/02/2018 08:36

Baby on Board

Last two sentences in particular.

AnotherDunroamin · 03/02/2018 08:38

According to one of my unwillingly childless friends they do achieve one thing: making sure people struggling with infertility can't even get a few moments respite in the privacy of their own cars from the relentless "you are less valuable than a mum / baby" marketing.

ZivaDiva · 03/02/2018 08:45

Fintress
Still of the same opinion, I don’t know, and have never heard of, a single one of my colleagues who take the slightest bit of notice of them and they have been discussed multiple times.

YerAuntFanny · 03/02/2018 08:52

Fintress, reading that it actually seems as though the emergency services dislike them because more often than not they waste their time looking for non-existant children.

If the signs weren't there in the first place they would go about their jobs in the same way.

The bloke that invented them in the first place has reportedly said they were never intended to notify emergency services of anything and given that piss-take versions are more popular nowadays this would render them useless anyway. A charred sign looks the same regardless of what was written on it, again wasting emergency response time.

They should all be banned for that reason IMO.

villamariavintrapp · 03/02/2018 09:14

Emergency services don't pay them any attention at all, don't give them a second's thought. I find them extremely irritating, if you have a baby in your car YOU should be driving carefully/considerately not expecting other people to.

why12345 · 03/02/2018 09:34

I remember a thread on here a while back. Someone had seen a sticker on someone's car saying "Breast fed baby on board" 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Original poster

Emmastone123 · 03/02/2018 09:40

Hmm, okay maybe I won't get one...

OP posts:

ShowOfHands · 03/02/2018 09:52

I am married to a member of the emergency services and have a BIL and SIL in the emergency services and having asked recently, have had it confirmed that in 19 years shared working, none of them has ever paid attention to Baby on Board signs. They follow procedure at accidents. The signs form no part of it.

I'd be worried if anybody did treat a fellow road user with respect solely because of a sign. I'd worry about why they didn't afford all road users the same courtesy. I also suspect they make some twats drive more recklessly. Little cocky 17yo Johnny in his flash Vauxhall Nova definitely likes the challenge of beating an unsafe path past a vulnerable new Mum. I've actually met misogynistic little picks who won't sit behind a female driver or assume a family car = a barrier to their road ownership.

The signs just make me roll my eyes. They're a marketing gimmick, no more and no less.

GreenTulips · 03/02/2018 09:57

if there is even a small chance that having a sign in your car means emergency services can act quicker

What total rubbish - our emergency services are great and that fact there's a baby involved will have no bearing in their response time or professionalism - what totally rubbish and insulting to our brave fire/police and ambulance services

NoNoCharlieRascal · 03/02/2018 10:06

Speaking of babies and emergency services, please do put a sticker on your childs car seat containing relevant information of any allergies, illnesses, medication, and phone numbers of next of kin. If you are in an accident and unable to talk it will help the ES help your child.

PotteringAlong · 03/02/2018 14:50

NoNo now that IS a good idea. Never thought of it, I’ll do that this afternoon.

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