the random musings not worthy of new thread thread

[PhillyGirl]

More info, now that the AAP made the formal announcement today:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/21/car.seat.guidelines.parenting/

75% safer....50% safer....aren't those #s that pique your interest phillymic? Or is that a risk you'd like to take with YOUR kids?

My 4.5 year old is still rearfacing. She's 30 lbs. She's never complained about it and she sits either crosslegged or dangles her legs over the sides of the seat. Are YOU more comfortable for long periods of time, with your legs up on an ottoman or dangling over the side of a chair?

[PhillyGirl]

Never had problems with AT&T, been with them since 2000(Cingular)

Interesting since I never had service up in Lancaster with AT&T.

[ice grillin you]

how about just dont get in car crashes....thats what id do

[PhillyGirl]

Sure, you can drive as safe as possible....doesn't help the 18 year old texting and driving from hitting you.

[PhillyGirl]

More from the new guidelines:

After [they turn forward facing], they should ride in forward-facing car seats with a harness until age four or until they have outgrown the seat.

* Then they should be switched to a belt-positioning booster seat until they can use the seatbelt alone (typically between eight and 12 years, or when they've reached 4 feet 9 inches).

* Kids who are big enough to use the seatbelt alone should sit in the rear of the car until age 13.

I cringe when I see kids at my daughter's preschool in booster seats.

[mussa]

Never had problems with AT&T, been with them since 2000(Cingular)

Interesting since I never had service up in Lancaster with AT&T.

Half those years I lived in Philly, Delaware the other in Lancaster. I did live in a dead spot for a year in Lancaster which forced me to get Vonage during that time so I can't say never.

[DH]

Sure, you can drive as safe as possible....doesn't help the 18 year old texting and driving from hitting you.

kind of off-topic from the whole carseat thing, but i had some 18 y/o prick almost ruin my weekend before it started on friday on the way out of the office..farging kid turns onto a side street as im driving straight down a main road at the last second making me slam the brakes narrowly avoiding smashing into them..

the driver and his two 18 y/o passengers laughed as i went buckwild from my car..

do i need anger management? perhaps? should 18 year old drivers be given full rights of the road? farg no. 

[PhillyGirl]

No, they should not. I know that at 17, when I got my license...while friggin awesome for me...I wasn't ready and should have NEVER been allowed to drive without an adult.

[Sgt PSN]

Old enough to die for your country but not old enough to drive a car?  Come on.  We wonder why this country is going to shtein, well a small part of the reason is because we keep stripping our youth of responsibility and when they become adults they have no concept of consequences or being  held accountable for their actions. 

When should kids....err....legal adults finally be allowed to drive by themselves?  When they're 30? 

[Diomedes]

18 is fine assuming we train them well, which we do not at all, and assuming that we enforce driving rules, which we do not have the resources to do.  Our roads are chaos.

Without proper training, no age is safe.  And certainly not the octogenarians running round out there..jesus.

Look at how Sweden or Germany educate their drivers, and how they patrol the streets.  If we did that, our roads would be a lot safer.

[PhillyGirl]

18 is fine assuming we train them well, which we do not at all, and assuming that we enforce driving rules, which we do not have the resources to do.  Our roads are chaos. 

Look at how Sweden or Germany educate their drivers, and how they patrol the streets.  If we did that, our roads would be a lot safer.

This exactly was my point.

[DH]

i remember when i had to sit through drivers ed, the only thing i kept thinking about was how cool it was gonna be to drive and how to get at least an 80 in that class..i dont think i learned one thing in that class. i agree with dio - drivers need to be taught, not just handed a license.

[Sgt PSN]

Absolutely, but as adults, parents, educators, etc, teaching kids is OUR responsibility and because we are failing to do our part, doesn't mean that kids should be the ones who have privileges like driving taken away from them. 

Start holding parents legally accountable for their (minor) kids speeding tickets and reckless driving habits like texting or talking on their cell while driving and see if more parents don't pay attention and start fixing their kids.  It would probably also help if parents themselves were obeying the rules of the road, especially while their kids are in the car with them and setting a good example.  It's no secret that most bad habits that kids learn they learn from their parents. 

[Diomedes]

It amazes me that we let kids out on the road who have never had to STOMP on the brakes at 65mph and bring the car to a controlled stop.  You have no idea what that is like until you have to do it, and in our dumb ass country, we are more than willing to let people learn that out on the highways with us.  It's amazing to me.

In other countries, they send you down a slick runway with a portion of tarmac that slides.  They hit the button after your front tires cross onto stable ground, whipping the rear end of the car around, and you don't pass until you can correct the spin.  That's training.  That's the kind of thing that teaches you respect for the enterprise of piloting several thousand pounds of metal at high velocity.

[Diomedes]

Absolutely, but as adults, parents, educators, etc, teaching kids is OUR responsibility and because we are failing to do our part, doesn't mean that kids should be the ones who have privileges like driving taken away from them. 

Start holding parents legally accountable for their (minor) kids speeding tickets and reckless driving habits like texting or talking on their cell while driving and see if more parents don't pay attention and start fixing their kids.  It would probably also help if parents themselves were obeying the rules of the road, especially while their kids are in the car with them and setting a good example.  It's no secret that most bad habits that kids learn they learn from their parents. 

Oh, agreed.

And the latter problem could be improved greatly if:  a.) the standards for getting a license were raised/the practical test more comprehensive and difficult and b.) cops spent more time getting bad drivers off the road and less time chasing corner boys