CPS horror at the grocery store....

Dsunny1 · Mar 28, 2006

I was in the grocery store today. 18 month old baby (estimate) asleep in an infant Evenflo seat, in a HUGE coat. Her head and legs had to be 4 or more inches out of the seat on either end. It was a three point harness, horribly twisted.. Now get this , NO BUCKLE! They had taken the harness adjuster and just somehow tied a knot around the shoulder strap loop that comes down in a three point!! MY jaw dropped open.
Then I was at my car and noticed this fancy car drive up. The lady has an infant car seat base in the middle of her backseat. Then I notice it is strapped in using both outboard belts criss crossed and buckled into the opposite belt buckles. But WAIT there's MORE, the latch was attached to the outmost latch hook on either side, accross the whole backseat of the car, rendering the back seat useless.. I thought about trying to get a picture with my camera phone, but didn't want to be too crazy.... I just shook my head and tried to ignore the heart dropping feeling I had all the way home...
I get such an anxious heart pain kindof feeling when I see those things...

Unregistered · Mar 28, 2006

I know what you mean! The other day I went to the grocery store and a woman pulled up in a small beat up car, dents all around and a big circle of cracked windshield in front of her face. She had 4 kids in the back seat. One, a toddler was in a carseat but the others (all about 4 or 5 and under) were somehow sharing the other seat belts!
I was initially upset but had to tell myself that, in Texas kids are legally allowed to ride in just a seatbelt once 5 and that she DID have the younger one in a carseat. So even though the whole situation looked pretty scary, she might not have been breaking any laws and even had the common sense to keep all the kids in the back.
I still shake my head over this. I think the states that have such lax belt laws are really putting thousands of kids at risk by allowing parents to think that by 'following the law' they are keeping their kids safe.
C.

Dreaming_of_Speed · Mar 29, 2006

I cant stand going to walmart anymore b/c of things like this. We have a very large Hispanic population that doesnt speak English and it seems like every time i walk into walmart i see babies in nearly expired evenflo discoveries sitting on top of unattended carts. It takes all my self control not to fix the straps and chest clip. I speak a small amount of Spanish (I got to Spanish 3 honors in HS and retained most of it this far) but i cant explain the errors well in my broken Spanish. I've considered memorizing a few sentences in spanish about car seats.

It scares me how often i see babies in car seats sitting on top of carts unattended. Anyone could walk up and take the baby and these ppl wouldnt know. I saw one lady put her groceries in her car, put 2 older kids in the car then sit the baby in its seat on the floor and walk the cart to the cart corral that was 6 cars away! The baby was in the middle of the road alone.

I cant figure out how they tied the straps without a buckle. It doesnt seem possible to me but its late maybe i'm not thinking clearly. I wonder how they got the kid in and out.

Dsunny1 · Mar 29, 2006

It was a three point, so basically that is just like a loop of webbing, they took the left over harness adjuster strap and brought it up between her legs and just tied a big knot after looping it through where the buckle would have been. I didn't get very close as I was just walking by, but that is what it looked like they did.... It is hard to be a CPST sometimes, as you feel like know matter how much you do, there is so much more education needed out there for these parents who have no idea...

Unregistered · Mar 29, 2006

I have seen cars at Wal-mart full of a (nameless ethnic group) where it is literally like watching one of those 'clown cars' at the circus. I can NOT believe how many people they had riding in one vehicle! (and not one of thse 15 passenger vans, either, this was just a regular mini van. I counted at least 12 people!) They had babies AND adults sitting on laps! - It would be funny if it weren't so scary!

Victorious4 · Mar 29, 2006

I saw someone do that same "rtick" using both outboard seatbelts for a center install ... with a newborn FF in a CarGo while we were driving down to NYC -- I totally freaked out & started calling 411 to find out who to call, LOL ... my boyfriend was scared out of his mind for minute, then burst out laughing when he finally heard me telling the police what I saw

I'm just oh so glad HE got some amusement out of my shocked terror.

Thankfully, I've never seen someone with THAT messed up of an infant seat, though

*UGH*

Dreaming_of_Speed · Mar 29, 2006

My three point seats all adjust in the back so i dont quite understand how they had it tied unless they had thread the harness from one slot to the other then to buckle part instead of right slot, buckle, left slot. I'd have to say something, if i could speak the language i'd have to mention that that was unacceptable. Low chest clips i can keep my mouth shut about, loose harnesses i can try, but no buckle i cant!

If you think that is bad. At races you can see ppl of the same unnamed race really packing ppl into minivans. I've seen them put 5 across each seat with every other person holding a child and then put beanbag chairs int eh cargo area and put 4 or five more adults back there holding even more kids!

Victorious4 · Mar 29, 2006

I felt pretty bad last weekend because I called a friend in to the police ... even after I offered to give 2 kids a ride home in my van & explained why it's so dangerous (& illegal) they still continued to pile 5 kids in the back of a Toyota Camry, 3 of them requiring boosters (none used)

Dreaming_of_Speed · Mar 29, 2006

I would have done it too. I called on a friend of mine from school. She refused to put her newborn baby (he's 2 months old) in a proper seat. she had him in a cosco voyager booster! She called and left me a nasty voice mail about it but if her kid is safe i dont care.

Victorious4 · Mar 29, 2006

Aiyaiyai! As someone else here said recently ... a proper carseat is less costly than a hospital bill or funeral

Unregistered · Mar 30, 2006

A few of these comments strike me as border-line racist. I think it would be best to remove these posts from the forum. They really left a bad taste in my mouth. I would hate for the useful information to get sidetracked by some of these self-righteous comments.

Victorious4 · Mar 30, 2006

I don't know that racist is just the right word, but IKYM

I tried not to be "name-cally" in my post (BTW, just noticed I typoed 411 when I meant 911, LOL) ... anyway, perhaps a moderator might have time to just edit some so the intent is still available but without the abrassiveness (is that even a word?)

Dreaming_of_Speed · Mar 30, 2006

I also tried to be polite as i could be about the topic. I'm sorry if it offended you but i tried to keep the posts as nice and unrasict as possible. I didnt say anything offensive about any particular race except that i cant help them b/c i dont speak their language and its common to see them pack as many ppl as you can into a vehicle. Both of which are true.

I reread all these posts and i dont see any as self righteous. We're discussing the mistakes we see ppl make not how much better we are b/c we dont make them.

I thought you ment 411! I call it when i'm in an area that i dont know the number for the police. I just cant get the guts to call 911 with something that is an eminent emergency. Our 911 overworked and it can be difficult to get thru when you do have a problem, i'd hate to tie up the line when someone else really needs to get thru. The next time i see a baby in someones lap i will be calling 911!

Victorious4 · Mar 30, 2006

Our 911 has always been very receptive to my calling & quite helpful ... but, we are rural, so maybe that's part of it

Dreaming_of_Speed · Mar 30, 2006

Our area has grown tremendously in a small amount of time so our 911 is over taxed. It serves 3 towns, 2 of which have doubled in size in the past 3 years.

In The Woods · Mar 31, 2006

Butting in here and want to offer a clarification on the "race" thing and Spanish-speaking people.

Latins are Caucasian, although if you're from the US and they're from another country, they're another "culture" -- not necessarily another race, unless, of course, you're African-American, Asian, etc.

Kristin

Unregistered · Mar 31, 2006

Unregistered said:
I have seen cars at Wal-mart full of a (nameless ethnic group) where it is literally like watching one of those 'clown cars' at the circus. I can NOT believe how many people they had riding in one vehicle! (and not one of thse 15 passenger vans, either, this was just a regular mini van. I counted at least 12 people!) They had babies AND adults sitting on laps! - It would be funny if it weren't so scary!

This is the post that I find in questionable taste.

Regarding wanting to communicate child safety to a Spanish speaking person: one idea -- if you have the time and inclination -- have some cards printed up in Spanish talking about child seat safety and the address or phone number of a place to get the fit checked. (Ideally the technician is bi-lingual.) Lots of effort on your part, but could be really helpful to someone.

Dreaming_of_Speed · Mar 31, 2006

The cards are a great idea! my parents neighbor is bilingual (raised speaking spanish) and has a child so i'm sure he'd be willing to help me translate. We dont even have a good tech that speaks english here. the closest tech i'd trust to check my seat is about 2 hours away, speaks english only, and does checks once a month for an hour.

Our other option is about 3 hours away in GA. I really do need to get certified so we have a good one in my county (and one close to the 3 other counties without a tech) since our state police set one guy to the classes but he seems to have slept thru them all. (And he 'taught' the other guys how to install seats using their cop cars and one seat so they install seats for ppl too many times incorrectly.)

For the record i've seen loads of ethic groups loading tons of ppl into small cars but i do see more Latinos doing it than any others. I've always assumed it was b/c they live together in such large family groups that they all like to travel together. I'd love to live with all my family they way they do (but i'd start to kill them one by one so i think we'll stay where we are.

)

LEAW · Mar 31, 2006

Well in the area where I teach, it's common to see loads of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian people packed into cars.

Anyhow, I am actually posting about the use of 911 - rather than spend time holding up a dispatcher, I will call 911 and they answer and I say "This is NOT an emergency, could you give me the non-emergency police number please" and it saves them a lot of time, frees the line up in case someone IS trying to call, and gets me the info I need. I now have a good part of the surrounding communities non-emergency numbers saved in my cell for days like that.

Walmart seems to be a magnet for finding abuse of cars and car seats and seatbelts - and if you see something like that, and they are going in, notifying police then will give them a chance to stop over and probably talk to them on the way out.

Victorious4 · Mar 31, 2006

I missed that bit.... It's also common to see any race of peoples piling into a car that doesn't have enough seatbelts -- usually, highschool/college students here. Since it's bothering at least some of us, I think it seems like an easy enough editing fix if any of the moderators have a moment

CPS horror at the grocery store....

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