quote:

Originally posted by lilliesmom:
Has anyone ever been driving and noticed a child that should be in the bacseat or even worse should be in a carseat and isn't? I have seen this and it makes me so mad. My husband says I should call the police and report them while i am driving but I have never had the guts to do it.I saw a child last week that looked about two just sitting on the edge of the front seat looking around. Because my father works in traffic homocide I know all to well what terrible things can happen if an accident occurs and anyone, especially a small child isn't buckled up. So what would you do if you saw this? I wish i could ask them to roll down their window and explain to them that they are neglecting their child and could potentially injure or lose their child by negelecting to keep them safe. Am i crazy or does this bug you too?

I cannot even tell you how many times I have seen this and some people say it's none of our business but I feel differently. These children have no voice, if they are out of their carseat they don't understand that it's dangerous. We have to be their voice!!! If their parents are stupid enough to do something SO STUPID they shouldn't be allowed to raise children in my opinion and I know that is a brutal sentence to speak but I honestly feel in my heart that it's true. My problem is when you call the police on them how do you know exactly where they are going? Or do you follow them? It's hard to say on what to do about it. But after reading all of these and feeling so guilty about not doing anything in the past about it I will absolutely call them next time and follow them all the way until the police do show up. Because this is something very serious. It's one of the worst ways to harm your children that you could prevent!!!! Not only does my two year old sit in her carseat every where we go even she even gets put back in it when we are going from one store to the next in the same parking lot!

Driving down the road the other day, I saw a young mother driving, maybe 19-20, in the pass. frt seat I saw her 3 (guessing) year old daughter (no car seat) holding her baby sister(probably about 6 months old) I blew a fuse. Oh, and her windows were down, she got a complete earful from me. I continued to explain to her how lucky she was to have happy, healthy children, and how irresponsible she was to put thier lives in jeopardy! I then did call the police, via 911, they explained to me how this was no emergency, and that I needed to call the highway patrol office and give them the tag# of the vehicle. Ya know, it should be easier to report this, they also iformed me I could call the department of children & families and proceeded to give me the number, I said forget it, but I did call FHP.

Shannon, YOU GO GIRL!

Do you have the right local number to call? If so post it and all of us could right then put it into our cell phones, so it can be on speed dial!

The local FHP number they gave me is 499-2300.

If you go to the health dept or sheriff dep they will give you a car seat for free and install it So I have heard from a friend at theheree county health dept,. so people hacve no excuse to not have a car seat

One place that will definitely pay attention is the Florida Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 800-96 ABUSE. I won't hesitate to call when I see someone neglecting their child in any way!

this post is so funny/ironic. I have been saying to my husband since we moved here (to Florida) that the child safety/carseat laws must be different because NEVER in my life have I seen so many children NOT IN CARSEATS or SEATBELTS! I am glad that the laws are the same it is just neglectful, ignorant parents. I know many of them excuse their behavior because they were told by their parents that they were never in carseats as kids, waste of money etc... but don't they realize the laws have changed because of all the deaths? It is for our childrens SAFETY not to put a parent out? how weird! I am just happy to know that this is just as angering to others! Maybe with all of us angered/frustrated moms we can make a difference! CALL next time and report!