feeling sick have i done right thing

I agree there should be seat belt on buses too. You know what makes me nervous too, are kids in shopping carts with no safety belt. When my children were young I always made sure they were belted in and I was never away from the cart. I see some kids in the shopping carts and their mom's are picking groceries and the child isn't belted in.

YES! Absolutely agreed on that.
In Cali, almost all stores offer the strap sefety belts on shoppin carts now.

When my dot, Roxan, was a toddler, the straps were not on them, though, and I learned of the frightening reality of just how quickly those lil toddler bodies can and DO wiggle their way out of those front metal "seat" areas.
All I did was a quick couple steps away from the cart to grab a product, turned to return to cart, and before I had a chance, Roxan was juuuuuuust tilting forward from the cart..and CRACK...smacked her forehead against that hardened cement floor. I screamed in absolute fright. She was just one step out of my reach to catch her. Scared the living hell out of me. (She was fine. Took her to hosp for a quick 'look over'..sigh of relief).

And although Roxan is just a wee bit too old to sit in cart anymore....lol, (she's 14), I have found a very good use for those toddler belts. When I shop, I usually have purse in that seat, and I secure my purse with that belt....just in case my back is turned and someone tries to snag n run with it. No can do with safety belt on....

Shangrala

you dont need to afford one, there are ways of getting a car seat without spending money, my sister in law offered her daughters to them as she needed a new one the only problem with it was that it has pink in the cover

freecycle are allways having carseats offered and local paper have a free section

i am also in agreement that busses and taxies should have seat belts i do know that a firm of minibusses carrying children and disabled adults to there day places have boosters and seat belts in them,

also i belive coaches are starting to bring in seat belts, but all new busses and coaches mini busses should have them fitted and it should then be the responsability of the passenger if they were them

Oh, did you?

Hi Katheryn

I'm not big on getting the authorities involved unless it's absolutely necessary. She's wrong for doing what she's doing, but having her arrested/fined and possibly having her car and child taken away from her seems a bit harsh to me.

If a relative caught you making a mistake while driving, would you be grateful to them if they called the police? If you were arrested and your car taken away, would it tell you they cared about your welfare and safety?

I know the laws are the laws, but what if she really needed to go somewhere? Would the child be any safer if she would have left the child home alone? There are laws against that too.

It would be nice if a relative could stand up and take that girl to get her driver's license. Depending on the cost, maybe you or a group of relatives can get together and buy her a nice carseat for the child.

She's clearly not a responsible person. It's kind of sad when people like this take on the responsibility of another life. For her child's sake, I hope she can become responsible soon. Is there any way she can get into a parenting class?

yes i understand that getting the police involved was not best but after a year of ppl telling ther its wrong and her mother doing it also i think something more than being told needed to be done

several relatives and friends and work colouges of the parents did tell therm both that itys not right and dangerous

she can leave child with her mopther as her mother oinly lives a few hopuses away and doctors and supermarkets are in walking distance and the bus service is good were she lives

i dont know much about the way she was brought up as her mum and my brother divorced before he passed away, and her mum remarried while she was still young

i only found out were she was living when she started working were my brother in law works, and when they became a item i still didnt have a lot to do with them but she does with other members of my husbands family and as far as they have said they all have said about it but they sit back and let her get on with it

Some car seats are really not good second hand, could have been repaired from an earlier accident or have been recalled...be careful! You need to go to a very reliable source.

This was my first thought Pachy:

.

yes i understand the need to make sure a car seat is in good condition and not been involved in a accident , i have two booster seats in my car for when i help a friend out with her grankids, and i bought them for less than a tenner from a shop,

How silly of me! I thought seat belts were now standard on all school buses. Pre-schoolers here are transported on a special bus that has car seats built in. They were so proud when they entered Kindergarten and no longer had to use a car seat and were only required to use the lap belt.

I would also like to add my opinion on you calling the police. In my opinion (for what it's worth) you did absolutely the right thing. Laws are not here to make our lives difficult, they're here to protect us all. Sometimes from our own stupidity. If this woman's child was taken from here because she'd driving around in a car illegally and without proper safety equipment this did not happen as a result of YOUR actions (ie calling the police). This is a result of HER actions.

I submit you'd feel much worse if this child was severely injured and you remained silent because you put the mother's feelings above the child's safety.

this is what i keep telling myself since i saw her christmas eve we have had bad road conditions for an experanced driver let al;one somebody who hasnt passed there test