Another, "You'll never guess what I saw in the parking lot" thread

ThreeBeans

New member
I wanted to leave a note on the windshield but it was pouring and DH was in a worse mood than the weather.


Sedan. Two infant seat bases installed in the back seat (no carriers).

They were installed FORWARD FACING :eek::mad:

WTH is WRONG with people?!??!?!
 
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MySillyKids

New member
I saw a 3 year old, in a snugride. FF, at costco the other day.

I was amazed.

The mom pulled out the seatbelt, made sure the carrying handle was secure, and buckeled him in.

NUTS!!
:whistle::whistle:
 

CRS

Senior Community Member
I've seen a 4yr old kiddo "boosted" up on a cushion before and a 2 1/2 year old in an expired, deformed/mutilated old evenflo joyride with no cover, forward-facing, of course!
 

jazzpurr88

New member
Mom laying infant 10 weeks old maybe? In the infant seat and not straping him. 2 1/2 - 3 year old jumping in the front seat with mom. and them driving off. I followed them and called the police and the dispatcher said they would look into it. I wonder if they ever did.

I've called the cops on alot of people with kids not in seats. I've only seen one pulled over and I think that because we drove right by the cop in the parking lot right after I got off the phone. That car had lil ones hanging out of rolled down windows on all three sides.
 

mommy2env

Active member
Ughhh, I know the feeling. I have left 3 notes in the past two weeks so far. I just hope they pay attention. :soapbox:
 

littleangelfire

Well-known member
Its amazing. I made some car seat mistakes myself - I turned my son a month or so after his first bday b/c I mistakenly thought that keeping them rear facing was merely a 'suggestion', I didn't realize the importance. And I was using an expired car seat until last October. But somethings surprise the heck outta me. I mean, there's a lot of nitty gritty to correct car seat picking and using, but it would seem there's plenty that's just plain common sense. I dropped my sister (9 years) off at her summer program at school a few weeks ago, and looked into the ca rparked next to me, I swear I had a good reason, my son banged my door out really far and I was scared he would hit the other car with it. Anyways - in the back seat was a convertible seat ( I think, I didn't stare quite long enough to figure too much) and the condition downright shocked me. I had seen people use dirty seats before, but I'd never seen one quite so battered. It was missing MOST of the padding, from top to bottom. IT was most just plastic shell. On top of this the straps were twisted. And then, worse, so much worse to me, I realized it was a lady's car seat who goes to our church, who's kids are friends with us, who I talk to all the time! Her eldest child is probably about 7-8 years old, so I'm guessing that it was that first child's seat and she's used it with the next two. Another sad point, all THREE of her kids should still be in seats! She has really tiny kids. One is about 4-5, another 5-6, and another 7-8. I only got a pic from the side, but the rest of the seat was so much worse.
953673417_c30fbaebe6_o.jpg


A week or so ago I went to Big Lots and when I came out, there was a Chevy Blazer with 3 young girls in the back, all under 10 I would guess. And not a grown up in sight! I waited about 5 mins and still didn't see an adult come out so I called the police station. They took all the info (about 5 minutes to do this and find the number) and proceeded to tell me I had the wrong station. I live in a huge metro area, 10 cities all kind of blend into one, and apparently I needed an adjacent city's station. So...I called the right one and they said they'd send someone out. I sat and waited. It only took another 3-5 minutes to see an officer drive up, he drove by it twice and then an adult came out to the car. It was steaming hot and those kids were alone in a car. UGH!! And I haven't a clue if anything was done about it or not. I only stayed until I saw the officer.
 

MySillyKids

New member
Another thing i saw one time. I was at walmart, and packed up my van. Next to me was a kid the SAME size as my DS1. She had a carseat for him in back. She filled up his carseat with the things she had bought. She put her kid in the front seat, with the seat belt. I was shuddering. She saw me put my things in my van correctly, and my kids in the van in their you know CARSEATS!!

ugh.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Another thing i saw one time. I was at walmart, and packed up my van. Next to me was a kid the SAME size as my DS1. She had a carseat for him in back. She filled up his carseat with the things she had bought. She put her kid in the front seat, with the seat belt. I was shuddering. She saw me put my things in my van correctly, and my kids in the van in their you know CARSEATS!!

ugh.

WTH? Protect the groceries, risk the kid? :rolleyes:

Our neighbor has an awful expired T-shield seat for their almost 4yr old probably over 40lb son. It's installed obviously wrong, tethered at too much of an angle and placed in the middle of an outboard/center position, so it's kind of half & half. They know I'm a tech and I've offered to help and they won't take it... She's pregnant and I talked to them tonight and they've found baby a seat already. Unfortunate because I'd found a baby carrier for free that I could've loaned to them and then taken it back in time to get it destroyed since it would be close to expiring at that time... guess we'll see what beast shows up, I'm almost hoping it's old and horrid so that the hospital refuses to let them bring the baby home in it. :whistle:
 

EzzieMom

New member
I have seen some really bad car seats too. *REALLY* bad. Like ones that are so old and nasty that the cover is just barely hanging on or ones that aren't installed correctly or parents using car seat for kids that have outgrown them a loooong time ago or carseats that are so obviouslly exp..
My sister is one that bothers me the most. She use to (and still does...even tho they are older now (12y, twin 10y., 7y.) and probably don't have to be in a car seat anymore...still that doesn't matter, it's still unsafe, they still need to be in seat belts) let her kids ride around, no seat belt, no carseats, no nothing, around the reservation that she/they live on (her DH is Native American). Her excuse? We're on the the reservation, we're not going THAT far. (did I mention that she was in a DUI accident a few years back where she flipped her car into a ditch, broke her ankle, and was arested. Her kids were supoosed to be with her!!!!! :eek: But the uncle took them home bc it was getting too late and probably bc she was getting too drunk...since then she has called me from her cell phone *driving* home from another state--drunk. Her excuse? her FIL ws too drunk to drive, he was all over the road, so her DH and her decided she better drive. Where were the kids? in the RV in front of my sister's car with the drunk FIL and probably drunk dad:()
 

CRS

Senior Community Member
oh oh oh this is a good one - two adults in the back, kid, maybe 2 1/2 - 3 years in the back, on mums lap. In the front - perfectly good car seat, clean and tidy, reasonably new with..... A BOX OF BANANAS IN IT! Gee I didn't know banana cake was so important!:rolleyes: Oh another one... had to fix up a seat that was reclined for RF but was FF IYKWIM? not sure that it was actually belted in to be honest.. car was FILTHY and when I say FILTHY I mean - so filthy that my hands felt absolutely disgusting and it made want to hurl, just the GRIME not to mention that the car REEKED of weed. Wasn't in a car park though, was a police check stop.
 

Jordynsmama

New member
Okay so yesterday...I was at a light on a busy main street...I saw a car on my left side and a baby in an infant carrier in the back on the passenger side-so i could see pretty well....then the baby is sitting all the way up..like as if he is on the floor sitting up, and I see his hands and arms moving freely and then the dad look back and the baby turns all the way around and I can see both arems, bo straps...the seat is very reclined and the babyi is basically sitting in it...I know what they did. They just buckled the criotch strap and left the shoulder part comletely off. What the hell do they think happens in an accident to the babies upper freakin body?????? UGH. I was soooo close to getting out and saying something but it is a busy street and it was rush hour and ugh. idk...crazy.
 

Tiffanie

New member
I've even seen infant carriers just resting in the back seat, not strapped in, nothing, just sitting in the back seat with the infant inside rolling around....while mom was on the cell phone driving of course. :eek: Some people are just morons.
 

singingpond

New member
I guess I haven't looked in other people's cars very much up to now, other than at preschool drop off (where I actually didn't see anything horrible). Sounds like a distressing/eye-opening experience. Some of these examples of mis-use you're describing are really hard to fathom :confused:

Since the people who come to seat-checks are a self-selected minority, do you think their seats are, on average, better installed when they come in than one would find in a random cross section of the public at large? Just curious what those of you think who are techs, or who have a lot of experience peeking at carseats in other people's vehicles :) . Techs here seem to report a LOT of mis-use witnessed at carseat checks, so I have to wonder if the overall condition of seats in the general public is even worse....

Katrin
 

lynsgirl

New member
I guess I haven't looked in other people's cars very much up to now, other than at preschool drop off (where I actually didn't see anything horrible). Sounds like a distressing/eye-opening experience. Some of these examples of mis-use you're describing are really hard to fathom :confused:

Since the people who come to seat-checks are a self-selected minority, do you think their seats are, on average, better installed when they come in than one would find in a random cross section of the public at large? Just curious what those of you think who are techs, or who have a lot of experience peeking at carseats in other people's vehicles :) . Techs here seem to report a LOT of mis-use witnessed at carseat checks, so I have to wonder if the overall condition of seats in the general public is even worse....

Katrin

Well, in the sense that the people riding around with 5yos stuffed into a nasty, unbuckled OHS or whatever or kids not being restrained *at all* (not even in a seat belt), yes, I'd say the general public is even worse. Those are not usually people who would feel the need to come to a car seat check up.

That said, some pretty bad and bizarre stuff comes through check up events (smiling weakly) :dizzy: and I think most of us could compile a Yellow Pages sized book of examples eventually.

Oh, and heads-up. Once you *start* looking in other cars, it's impossible to stop. You find yourself glancing in every vehicle that you're walking past in parking lots, looking at the vehicles around you at stoplights, etc. It's one of those things you love to hate (i.e. "WHY do I have to look?? AGH") and you just can't help it :whistle:.
 

jaded

New member
I've seen a few combination seats installed rearfacing, a baby bouncer that was installed as a carseat(seatbelt through the bottom legs and everything.

Speaking of checks, I had one seat come through(before I gave up seat checks) that had 5 seperate problems. And the baby in the seat was only 2 weeks old.
 

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