SnoopyDawgDawg
Verified Beagle
- Joined
- May 31, 2014
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OT rant...I wonder if this sort of death occurred back in the 40's-80's, when car were big, but people concentrated on driving, not talking on the ^#%##*# phone, or trying to do one million things at a time. Not saying this was the issue here...but people are so distracted, even when operating a two-ton machine at high speeds with their children inside, even knowing car accidents are among the leading causes of death for children. In the state I live in, texting while driving was JUST ruled illegal this week...with a $25 fine. It is so ridiculous that this even has to be a law. I guess I just get tired of hearing about how stressful life is these days...my mom had eight kids and worked and nothing was left undone, but she was not racing around like a crazy person. Somehow, life was lived before phones, gadgets etc.
Anyway...jmo
Speaking as a child born in the mid-50's:
Mom could run into the store and leave us in the car with all the windows down because we were perfectly safe like that back then. We knew everyone in town, and everyone in town knew us too (which meant if we misbehaved while she was in the store and someone saw us...woe be unto us!) Heck, if a stranger crossed the town lines, that information traveled faster (via momma grapevine) than the person could travel. And if someone was acting strange, the friendly neighborhood version of Andy Taylor would be pulling up and politely letting the person know they were being watched by a thousand pairs of eyes.
Also, Mom could leave us in the car with the windows rolled up or cracked and if we got hot, we could roll down the windows because they were manual and did not require that the car be running to control them.
And if someone were to leave their sleeping kid in a too-hot car, any adult could just open the door and roll down the windows, because no one had to leave their car doors locked. The person could just walk the kid into the store, find the momma and say, "Hey Flo, Imogene was getting a little hot in there. Here she is!"
Of course, there was no debate about whether or not a kid could get out of a car seat because the only car seats were ones that enabled the child to sit up high enough to see. They were not for safety. And any kid that could crawl or climb could crawl or climb out of them at will.