Scary car safety practices from your childhood...

Shaunam · Dec 14, 2006

I was thinking about this yesterday...

When I was little, my mom was pretty good about using car seats and making us wear seat belts, but I still remember some scary stuff we did.

I remember sitting in an ohs seat and in a sheild booster. At least I was in something though!

We always had just lap belts. I remember taking long trips and the lap belt would always get really tight, so I would put a pillow in front of me before buckling so it wouldn't press on me.

I remember one time we were crammed in a pickup truck for a road trip because our regular car was broken down or something and me and my little sister sat on the floor on the passenger side. We were probably only 5 and 2.

My mom used to let us take off our seat belts and lay down in the back seat if we were on a long road trip and on the highway. I'm going to ask her why, because it seems like she had a reason for only letting us take our belts off then, when she was so strict about it other times. Maybe she figured it wouldn't make much difference if we were in a lap belt or not buckled at all if we were barrelling down the highway at 80 mph and got creamed?

My mom seemed to be better about car seats and seat belts than most parents at the time, but she was still pretty inconsistant. She's really glad I'm crazy about car seats though. She knows so much more now and is glad we have such nice, safe seats for her grandchild.

hsjwmom · Dec 14, 2006

My sisters and I would all be laying down (with the lap belt on) all over the minivan when we drove on vacations. My mom has pics of it because we were so peaceful for once! I really don't remember EVER riding in a carseat. I don't think I ever saw my little sister in one either, and she was born in '82. I'm going to have to ask my mom.

Now this though, I find amazing. My MIL used to have my SIL sit on the fold down armrest in the front row in one of those 6 seat sedans.

We're talking no seatbelt at all!

Jeanum · Dec 14, 2006

My parents were also very pro-seatbelt and used a carseat of some sort for me as a toddler before they were common or required (I'm in my late 30s). They even had seatbelts retrofitted on a couple of cars built before seatbelts were mandatory equipment in cars. But my mom also says I rode home from the hospital on her lap in the front seat as a newborn, and on various road trips as a baby. I'm not sure what she did when she drove me any place by herself when I was a baby, and don't think I want to know, lol.

I also have distinct childhood memories of sleeping in the cargo area of the family station wagon during longer road trips or napping stretched out across the back seat with or without a lapbelt buckled up around me.

cmm7 · Dec 14, 2006

I remember sitting in the back of our station wagon (in the seat that faces backwards and only has lap belts) and thinking my friend and I were so cool for being sneaky and unbuckling our belts.

But that was when I was 6 or so. I was RFing to the max limits of my seat and then harnessed until about 4. I was then put in a shield booster until six or so.

Then I turned 7 or 8 and I became obsessed with car seats. I bought two boosters at a yard sale (a combo seat and a shield booster) and used those until I absolutely couldn't fit anymore. I was probably too tall and heavy but I don't really remember.

Yoshi · Dec 14, 2006

I was born in the mid-60's and we had those fit-over-the-seat-back carseats for toddlers (no harnesses, kind of like a stroller seat just clamped over the seat- the front seat.

Of course as a newborn, I slept in the bassinet part of my pram-style carriage on the backseat, and yes, I think it slid off one time when Mom braked really hard.

Later, my big sister and I sat in the backseat most of the time, but I LOVED to kneel on the seat and watch the world go by backwards out the back window.(no seatbelts)

I remember riding in the front with my mom a LOT- throughout the 1970's and if she had to step on the brakes, she'd reach over REALLY speedy-quick and put her arm out in front of me so I wouldn't hit the dash. (like that would really help!) My parents were SO not into seatbelts, but once it became law, they buckled up.

I, personally have always been a safety fanatic in all aspects of life (my safety-shirking family probably scarred me for life!) So when DS was born in 1989 was already a carseat safety addict. Thankfully, cars and carseats keep getting safer, as do the recommendations to help keep kids RF longer, harnessed longer, in a booster longer, and finally in the backseat until 14 or so.

What amazes me, is that without window locks and child safety-door locks that we never tried to open the doors or windows or fell out of a moving car! Ah yes, parents back then used spanking as punishment- I think we were more obedient!!

Yoshi · Dec 14, 2006

One more memory- dad used to let me sit on the fold-down armrest in the front middle just because....it was fun!

SPJ&E · Dec 14, 2006

Let's see...as a baby (I don't remember this, but everyone else does), my dad used to drive me around in the car at night to get me to sleep...no carseat, just on his lap.

When I was older, my mom never made me wear a seatbelt (and still doesn't make my brother, who is 12) most of the time.

My mom didn't allow it, but when she wasn't around, I was allowed to ride in the back of a truck (before that was illegal).

My cousins and I also laid the backseat down to make a bed and slept on long trips/vacations.

That's all that comes to mind, lol.

ajweeks · Dec 14, 2006

I was in some sort of infant car bed some that I think my brother (born in 1969) used as well. The car bed wasn't buckled into the car and there was no internal harness. Then my mom said she had one of the first rear facing infant seats (I was born in 1974) that she would put in the front seat so she could see me while she drove. Then I had some other toddler car seat that I sort of remember--turquoise vinyl with an overhead bar. After car seats, I rode in the front seat a lot with inconsistent seat belt usage. I remember my mom wouldn't make me wear my seatbelt around town, but when we went on a longer trip she would make my brother and I put it on (even though statistically you are at most risk within a short radius from your house). Since we weren't used to wearing seatbelts, we hated it and I remember putting the shoulder belt behind my back whenever I was riding in the front seat.

My mom was actually t-boned by a huge station wagon in her 1970s Datsun compact with my brother in the front seat (he was probably around 10), neither wearing seat belts. Miraculously, they were both ok and the parametics thought that if my mom had been wearing a seat belt, she might have been hurt worse since the impact threw her across the front seats instead of a seat belt holding her in place to be hit more (I'm not sure if I buy that). My mom was knocked out and had a nasty concusion, but was otherwise ok. My brother just got a goose bump on his head since he flew forward into and under the dash. The old pics of her wrecked Datsun were scary.

Dillipop · Dec 14, 2006

My parents had us in car seat and then boosters with ez-on type harnesses probably until we were about 4. Then lapbelts which we always had to have fastened. However on long trips, we could sprawl however we wanted as long as the belt was around us...didn't matter if it was tight or not. My parents brought my sister home from the hospital (1977) in the bassinet part of her stroller because the doctor said it would be better for her to roll in a crash. He told them absolutely no carseat for the first few weeks, just the bassinet. Two years later his advise changed and I was allowed to come home in a carseat.

Us three kids were on a weekend trip with my father when our van broke down. We were supposed to have a dad/kids weekend with another dad and kids and they came to pick us up in their van because my dad was too cheap to rent a car. We rode back with 2 adults up front. Youngest 2 kids on a bench seat and the other 4 kids on a wooden bench on the side of the van. No belts! For a family that was generally conscious of using belts, Dad failed on this one!

Simplysomething · Dec 14, 2006

yoshiandluke said:
I remember riding in the front with my mom a LOT- throughout the 1970's and if she had to step on the brakes, she'd reach over REALLY speedy-quick and put her arm out in front of me so I wouldn't hit the dash. (like that would really help!)

Heh, I still have people who do this, and we've always worn seatbelts.

Except in my fathers car--I hated driving to his house and not having belts.

But always been belt wearers. I remember driving down to Florida at age seven...being excited that it was MY turn to sit up front!

We didn't have a wagon, but my aunt did, and I totally remember laying in the back of hers when I went to her house (from VA to FL). Also remember lying the backseat of our car, with just lapbelt buckled 'round us.

My mother says that I had a carseat of some sort when I was an infant (late 70's). Okay. I believe her. lol

We were lucky to never have been in an accident.

super_grape · Dec 14, 2006

My Mom would put me in my bassinette on the floor of the car in the front seat, then when I became mobile they bought a car seat for me.
I remember it...it was black vinyl with a metal frame that sat really high.
It had a over head bar that snapped to the seat with a piece of webbing
and the harness straps snapped at the chest instead of having a chest clip.
The reason I remember it is because we also used it for my cousin who is 6
years younger than me and I used it when I was 16-17 to pick up kids I
babysat and then gave it to a freind who had Foster kids

.
VERY SCARY!!!!!!

Jeanum · Dec 14, 2006

Just remembered something else. My friend's mom used to pile a bunch of kids into her car and take us to the pool/beach. I remember riding crammed into the back seat with several other kids, none of us buckled up, or sharing seatbelts if we did buckle up. Sometimes a couple more kids would ride in the cargo area in her Pinto wagon, I kid you not. If it was really hot, and it usually was when we went to the pool or beach, lol, she would drive us around with the rear hatch open.

Schwa · Dec 14, 2006

My mom says I always had a carseat, but it was part of the high-chair, so she had to unhook it from the high chair frame to bring it to the car. It also attached to a stroller frame. Must have been one of the first travel systems! (late 60's).

When I was 10, our family pulled an RV around the eastern US and Canada for the. My sister (9) and I rode in the back of the Ford F150 that had a topper on it. They put a mattress down so we'd be comfy!

skaterbabs · Dec 14, 2006

It's in my baby book that I got my first car seat around age 2, and I distinctly remember traveling on a sleeping pallet in the cargo area of my grandfather's station wagon on a road trip from central VA to north-central PA and getting car sick.

flipper68 · Dec 14, 2006

Chronically backwards:

Late 80's piling 10 people into my Chevy Impala for a 25 mile drive.

Packing said vehicle with full trunk and then back seat full and level with front head rests.

Mid 80's - riding in a FULL conversion van (4 cap. chairs, one bench - 8 or 9 people) - no seat belts on bench seat, lap only on rear captains chairs.

As child (born in '68), laying in the back seat with my head or legs across my mom's lap(my mom and I usually were in the back for car trips dad and older brother in front). Occasionally I'd do the same in the front, with my head resting on my dad's leg. In the back, I remember "tracking" the power lines in between the lines of the rear defrost (it makes me nauseous to think of this now

).

Filling my dad's briefcases (like sample cases, only bigger with hinged tops) with maps, books, paper, colored pencils, snacks, etc. This was on the floor of the back seat for road trips.

I also remember sitting on a pillow in the front seat so the seat belt was more comfortable.

Riding in the back of the pickup or riding all 4 in the cab.

My dad says when my brother and I were little, they wedged a piece of heavy plywood into the crease of the back seat to make a "bed" for us to lay on.

If we were driving when the roads were really bad (snow/ice covered) we used seat belts in the back seat, but otherwise I was driving age when I started to buckle up in the back.

Despite these practices, I've always worn a seat belt when driving and almost always as a front seat passenger (certainly since I was in high school).

Lilsid · Dec 14, 2006

I had a car seat from day one but it was 1978 when I was born. I have pictures of it sitting in the middle of the front seat next to my grandfather it was at least RF.

I also remember sitting in the front seat from 3 years on and I didn’t fit in the seat belt so I did not wear it or I put the top part behind me.

I can also remember sitting on the front middle armrest with no seat belt.

We would take an RV on trips and my brother and I would ride in the back on the beds.

My husband has some fond memories of riding on the back dash of his parents Saab and looking out the back window.

Wow I am just glad we all made it out of our childhoods alive. My DD is riding harnessed and in the back seat until she is 18 (joking but close).

beeman · Dec 15, 2006

Box of the 1/2 ton I've always done around the farm. That is one rule I'm not too sticky on for riding around the farm. I can remember when I was younger my parents belonged to this farm group and we would go on field tours, so we would all jump into the boxes of a couple of trucks and go around. Even a couple years ago I rode in the box for a few miles down the grid road while helping a fellow beekeeper. When I was younger and moving bees, my dad would drive the truck, and I would stay in the box holding the hives together so that we didn't have to strap them.
When I was about 3 or 4 and my sister a year older than me, our family car broke down, so we all rode in the front seat of a standard cab pickup. I can remember my sister and I were mad because we had to share the center lap belt.
We always tucked the shoulder belt behind our back until we were 10 or 11. In the family car we got these wool seat belt covers so the seat belt wouldn't rub our neck and cause irritation. It still ran across the neck though!

abacus2 · Dec 15, 2006

I was born in '78 and my mom always did the best she knew/could afford. I had a carseat as a baby because TN was one of the 1st states to inact car seat laws around that time. All my siblings and I (born '78, '80, '82, '85) were out of car seats entirely by about age 4. My parents had an orange '74 Mercury Comet with only 4 seatbelts as our only vehicle until after the 4th child was born. When there were 3 kids, I rode in the middle of the back with a leather belt buckled around the 2 car seats next to me as a makeshift seatbelt. All 6 of us rode in that car to the car dealership with the baby in my mom's lap in the front seat to buy our family car. The best my parents could afford was a 6 seater car with a lap only belt seat in the middle of the front (They've never owned a minivan or SUV even though I didn't completely move out until I got married in '98). My mom has always made everyone wear their seatbelts when riding with her, even adults. I have always cared about car safety; I hated that the school buses had no safety belts and one of my most vivid early memories is the first time I saw/rode in a car with lap-shoulder belts in the back seat. I was so excited; I believe this was in '86 when I rode in a friend's family's new Volvo sedan on the way to summer camp.

By far the scariest car safety memory is one from a friend's birthday party when I was 10 ('88). On the spur of the moment, her parents decided that it would be fun to go to Walmart, so they loaded up all 8 or 10 of us girls in the open back of their pick-up truck and drove us all about 30 minutes round trip down a 2-lane 55mph highway to the local Walmart. I know my mom would never have let me go to that party if she had thought they might do something like that.

I do have a cousin who is ok because her mom was too tired to take her out of her car seat to nurse just before they were involved in a major accident.

RubysGirl · Dec 15, 2006

Riding in the middle lap belt of my dad's pickup truck with it loose so I could lay my head on my dad's lap (yes, between him and the steerign wheel) and my feet on my brother's.

Riding double in a lap belt once or twice.

Riding in a lapbelt all the time.

Riding in the back of the pickup truck (with a camper atleast.)

Riding sitting behind the seats in my aunt's minivan's so her kids' friend could have a seatbelt just to put it behind his back. Well, actually, I didn't let him. I told him that if I was going to ride without a belt for his sake he was going to atleast wear the belt right.

That's about it.

tchrgrrl · Dec 15, 2006

My parents had an early 70's VW bus. The front seats had no headrests and there was a bench seat across the back - we would go on long road trips and we sat on the floor of the bus on bean bags and pillows and had tubs of art supplies and toys to keep us entertained - no seatbelts, ever.

When I was about 3.5 and my brother was a newborn we were t-boned in our little green Datsun. I was in my mom's lap in the front passenger seat - she was fixing my hair, my brother was thankfully in a carseat in the back. Amazingly I was fine - my mom hurt her leg and both of my parents had some bumps and bruises.

I had a friend who's family ALWAYS buckled up and I started nagging my parents to do the same. One morning my mom was driving to work and said she heard my voice nagging her - at a red light she put on her seatbelt and just moments later was rear ended - the driver's seat of her Subaru station wagon popped up off the tracks - the officers said if she hadn't been wearing her seatbelt she would have been ejected in to oncoming traffic

Scary car safety practices from your childhood...

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