the wreck--

Simplysomething

New member
I posted about it in the other thread, but I sensed myself hijacking that thread.

I found another article (or more accurately, the virginian pilot website wasn't loading this morning).
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=117936&ran=181504

Mom made sure SHE was buckled up correctly, but not her 2 year old. He's dead. She probably won't get punished, because..."it's punishment enough" that she lost her son. She lost her son because she put him in danger! It's HER fault!

Is that too harsh?
 
ADS

scatterbunny

New member
Not too harsh at all.

A parent who accidentally backs over a child because said child ran into the driveway when parent though child was in the house--I can see the dead child being punishment enough. It was an accident.

But a mom choosing to buckle up HERSELF and not HER CHILD and that child dying in a crash is pure negligence and deserves punishment.
 

drey

New member
I don't think it's too harsh... :( I think that if they did start charging people with homicide or whatever it's called, then maybe more people would start paying attention to the laws where it applies to safely transporting their children... Some people might think that THIS is too harsh...
 

scatterbunny

New member
I just read the whole article. Wow. Is there a seatbelt law in Virginia?

Pretty strong evidence in favor of one--all the unbelted people were killed; the one who was belted in survived and is in fair condition.
 

Starlight

Senior Community Member
No. It's an effin No Brainer that the kid should have been in a seat. Not only is it common freakin sense, it's against the law.

There's no guarantee that she'll take anything from this accident, even if it did cost her her son. Heck, look at Splash's family. What did they learn?

I think proper punishment is that she should get vehicular manslaughter for the death of her son, with however many years that comes with it. And they should force her to become a CPST.

This makes me really irked, if you couldn't already tell.
 

Simplysomething

New member
I think we have a secondary law thingy?
If you're an adult, and you're not buckled up, you can't be pulled over and cited for it. The only way you'd be cited is if you were pulled over for something else.

For children, it's a primary enforcement thing. They can pull you over and cite you for not having your child buckled..etc. Virginia's law is that a child must be in a safety seat until age 6. From six until 15, not being buckled is still considered a primary thingy...

You get a whopping...

fifty dollar fine.
 

Starlight

Senior Community Member
woooo, $50.

And we wonder why ppl keep turning their 7 month olds FF, or why 18 month olds are in boosters.

Ugh.
 

smurf

New member
There was an accident near where I live last weekend. 5 people died in an SUV, including a 12 mo old baby girl sitting on one of the passenger's lap. Only the driver survived, and she was the only one wearing a safety belt. The mother was not riding in the car.

Police will press charges against the driver.

Stories like this make me shake my head in dismay.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Wow. That is so sad!


I thought our seatbelt law was now a primary offense law for drivers and passengers under age 16? Am I wrong? I will try to look it up.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
YOu're right!! I don't know where I got that idea. Sorry!!

I did find a cool link, though. It lists the seatbelt laws (well, as of 2004) in all the states, DC, and PR.
 

Simplysomething

New member
I don't know if I believe her.

Also, the article you link says he was "always buckled up", not that he was in a seat. It doesn't say "he unbuckled his harness" just that unbuckled the seat belt.

He was almost three. He should have been in a carseat. Most likely, had the seatbelt been buckled, he'd still have been killed because they aren't designed to protect 2 and 3 year old children.
 
Maybe he was in a booster?

I don't think the mother should be sent to jail; but to require her to take an intensive CPS class would be just, whether he truly *was* buckled in before, or not. If he was in a booster, that was as inappropriate for his age as the adult belt.
 

Simplysomething

New member
It doesn't mention a booster in any of the articles I've read, though that doesn't mean there wasn't one. In any case a booster would have be wildly inappropriate for a baby his age.
 

Lena

New member
When I first heard the story on the news I wondered if he was in a car seat. So sad...

i just found an article that said the boy was NOT in a car seat.

"Moore was the only person in either vehicle wearing a safety belt, state police said. Her son, Jose Antonio Chapa, was not in a seat restraint, investigators said."
 

Simplysomething

New member
I was looking at another article on my local paper--it's about the adults in the wreck--one of the comments on that article mentioned the baby:

Very sad, to hear of the loss of four young men, but a child died here too. Nothing else said about him-why? Because his mother failed to have him in a car seat, and the driver of the other car overcorrected-this child is dead. You cant forget about him, the four died due to not wearing seat belts and careless driving-So as you all mourn for your friends-remember the child who died due to adults being careless.

There are a few comments on the orginal article too, most dealing with the adults.

I'm very tempted to comment, regarding the baby not being in a seat. I don't think I could do it in a kind way though.
 

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