Wash. State: Car Booster Seat and Abortion

[Courtneyjo]

Washington State recently enacted a law that children must use car and booster seats until they are at least 8 years old and 4 feet nine inches tall. The law also states that children must use booster seats until they are 16 years old if the car’s seatbelt doesn’t properly fit.

heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/11/100loc_a1seats001.cfm

One parent commented that his daughter “…could have an abortion without parental knowledge or consent but that she would have to travel to the abortion clinic restrained in a child seat.”

heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/17/100let_20070517002.cfm

What a strange, strange world we live in. Do the legislators not see the disconnect here?

 

[BlestOne]

I loved the point about driving on a learner’s permit but having to be restrained in a booster seat!!! But according to the article she would have to drive from the back seat unless the car doesn’t have shoulder harnesses… definitely poses some problems learning how to drive!!!

 

[stbruno]

I know how crazy is that. I do youth ministry and I have to get scads of permission forms from parents to take kids on a field trip and administer over the counter meds to them, like a tylenol or cough drops, or antacids…but the very same kids in our state can get an abortion without notifying their parents. What is wrong with our legislators??

 

[redmars3000]

I don’t see what the problem is here. I understand being frustrated with abortion but I wouldn’t knock down a safety law just because abortion is legal. If it is true that using a booster seat will help reduce deaths from car accidents how can that be a bad thing? It is not a big imposition other than a little bit of teasing from older kids ( or messing up your prom dress), which are poor reasons to be against it.

Furthermore, if I were sixteen, learning to drive, and my seatbelt did not fit me properly, I sure wouldn’t want to be learning to drive in that car in the first place! If I had to sit in a booster seat to be safe, so be it. Just like I need to wear a seatbelt to safe. What is the big deal?!

 

[BlestOne]

I don’t see what the problem is here. I understand being frustrated with abortion but I wouldn’t knock down a safety law just because abortion is legal. If it is true that using a booster seat will help reduce deaths from car accidents how can that be a bad thing? It is not a big imposition other than a little bit of teasing from older kids ( or messing up your prom dress), which are poor reasons to be against it.

Furthermore, if I were sixteen, learning to drive, and my seatbelt did not fit me properly, I sure wouldn’t want to be learning to drive in that car in the first place! If I had to sit in a booster seat to be safe, so be it. Just like I need to wear a seatbelt to safe. What is the big deal?!

The big deal is that legislators are legislating everything. There are so many problems with their new law, like the example of the 15 yo straight A student that would have to transfer her booster seat to her dates car just to go to prom with him, or that she has to learn to drive in a booster seat (ok let’s think about this…need to be up higher for safety, then toes don’t hit the brake or the gas. Why protect kids to this extent and then promote that it is their body and if they want an abortion they don’t have to tell you? Abortions and even sex at this age is bad for the body… how about addressing that? It makes no sense.

 

[Cari]

The Nanny State rears its ugly head again.

If there’s someone who can make a buck off them, children are going to be “important”. I’m sure the new legislation wasn’t, in any way, funded by car seat manufacturers.

The abortion industry can make more money off children if they’re given parent-free access to abortions. The pharmecudical companies can make more money off children if they’re given parent-free access to b/c (not to mention the bath of other medications that are hoisted off on children). The TV companies can make more money off children if they keep targeting shows to younger and younger audiences, etc. etc.

 

[redmars3000]

The big deal is that legislators are legislating everything. There are so many problems with their new law, like the example of the 15 yo straight A student that would have to transfer her booster seat to her dates car just to go to prom with him, or that she has to learn to drive in a booster seat (ok let’s think about this…need to be up higher for safety, then toes don’t hit the brake or the gas. Why protect kids to this extent and then promote that it is their body and if they want an abortion they don’t have to tell you? Abortions and even sex at this age is bad for the body… how about addressing that? It makes no sense.

Yes the legislature’s mentality is messed up. But that doesnt make this law that they passed bad just because they fail to see the most important problems. That is what I am trying to say. Yes, the government should protect ppl to this extent, and they should protect people even further by eliminating abortion and sex ed/hedonism education. But to say it is wrong or silly to pass a law like this when we are already required to wear seatbelts sounds illogical.

So what if someone has to move their booster seat into a new car? How hard is it to do this? How is this an issue if it is her safety at risk?

Would you want to drive a car with a big chance of being thrown out of it and dying if you got into an accident, just so that you don’t have a little delay at the prom? That also is a messed up mentality.
Furthermore, being a straight A student has nothing to do with the structure of her body.

And if she is so short that she needs a booster seat to learn how to drive( so that her seatbelt actually works )and her feet cant touch the pedals, then she can get extensions for her pedals. This is a non issue.

 

[BlestOne]

The funny thing is she has been learning how to drive just fine according to her dad. The booster seat law makes it so that she is required to use one. So far she has not needed one… do you see where I am going with this? Why is it that she needs one now? Is it because the need is there or because someone legislated the need? This law is called Anton’s Law. I am assuming someone named Anton died and it could have been prevented with a booster seat law. While this is a nice sentiment, I sincerely doubt that the rules needed to be so stringent. When a legal driver isn’t covered under the licensing laws but under the booster seat laws I have a problem. If this 15 yo was able to get a permit, doesn’t it presuppose they meet the physical requirements to drive? If not, why were they able to obtain a permit?

 

[redmars3000]

If this 15 yo was able to get a permit, doesn’t it presuppose they meet the physical requirements to drive? If not, why were they able to obtain a permit?

I’m sure she can drive fine but the issue was whether the seatbelt actually works for her.

My guess is that she got the permit before the law was passed. I dont think the implementation of any law is always perfect and there will probably be a gap of people between a certain age range that will feel like the law hurts them more just because they were accustomed to something else already. Ex: it will be my generation that ends up paying the brunt of baby boomer social security taxes while I myself will probably have to pay all of my own retirement pay or at least the extra amount to fix the system because social security will be broken by then. You get the worst of both laws but this is probably unavoidable now.

 

[fix]

Washington State recently enacted a law that children must use car and booster seats until they are at least 8 years old and 4 feet nine inches tall. The law also states that children must use booster seats until they are 16 years old if the car’s seatbelt doesn’t properly fit.

heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/11/100loc_a1seats001.cfm

One parent commented that his daughter “…could have an abortion without parental knowledge or consent but that she would have to travel to the abortion clinic restrained in a child seat.”

heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/17/100let_20070517002.cfm

What a strange, strange world we live in. Do the legislators not see the disconnect here?

I think it is a good example of moral cloudiness. Not only is abortion legal but all manner of explicit sexual teachings are condoned under the title of sex education, yet we are told we need baby seats mandated by the state.

How did so many grow up without every aspect life regulated by the busybody politicians in the past? Why is it so socially acceptable to mandate baby seats, yet expressing abortion is wrong and should be illegal is seen as intolerant?

 

[puzzleannie]

I am 60 yrs old and I have seldom driven a car or truck in which the seatbelt fits me properly, until the manufacturers start using crash test dummies with physique of average people I predict this problem will continue.

 

[CCM08]

This is just the new American state of mind, it’s the governments job to tell me when my kids can come out of the car seat. It’s the government’s job to have courts to ensure that if I make bad marriage choices I still come out with assets. It’s the government’s job to provide me with medical care. As Thomas Jefferson noted, “a government big enough to give you everything you want is powerful enough to take everything you have.” One day, in the not too distant future, people are going to very much regret how much we’ve allowed the government to get involved in our lives.

 

[BlestOne]

This is just the new American state of mind, it’s the governments job to tell me when my kids can come out of the car seat. It’s the government’s job to have courts to ensure that if I make bad marriage choices I still come out with assets. It’s the government’s job to provide me with medical care. As Thomas Jefferson noted, “a government big enough to give you everything you want is powerful enough to take everything you have.” One day, in the not too distant future, people are going to very much regret how much we’ve allowed the government to get involved in our lives.

Amen!!!

 

[drifting_away]

I’m sick and tired of Government telling me what to do, they are too meddling, yet I can give my kids junkfood, candy, let them watch violent, sexually explicit videos, and they can get an abortion without my permission.

The world had gone topsy turvy. I’m sick of the government.

 

[BlestOne]

I’m sick and tired of Government telling me what to do, they are too meddling, yet I can give my kids junkfood, candy, let them watch violent, sexually explicit videos, and they can get an abortion without my permission.

The world had gone topsy turvy. I’m sick of the government.

But don’t dare let your dog get loose… or decide not to get shots for your kids or animals… you will get in so much trouble!!!

 

[tamccrackine]

Even when I was learning to drive (ages ago) I knew I needed SOMEthing to help raise me up just a tad so I wasn’t so down in the seat as to not see properly out the windsheild. Then the car manufacturer’s did this really super cool thing… they made driver seats that raise up and down, back and forth, provide lumbar support, etc. Then they did something even better… they made the steering wheel adjustable. Then something that even I have to adore… pedals that move up and down. So to say a 16 yr old learning to drive will require a booster seat is pretty stupid considering that you can practically mold the driver area around the size of the driver. And if you really require one, then I think the driver is intelligent enough to know that and do something WITHOUT the government saying so, kwim? What the heck happened to common sense?

My state maintains that a child must be 80lbs or 4’9" or 8 yrs old. Can you just imagine how much money is spent on car seats and boosters by the time a child is 8 yrs old? It starts to add up seeing how these car seats expire every 5-6 years. Have more than two kids, that really starts to add up. (Just making an observation… not whining about how much it costs in the idea to get out of buying something that is used to keep my children safe)

I’m just sorry that the government wants to regulate the majority because of a minority of stupid people not properly taking care of their children.

 

[redmars3000]

I’m just sorry that the government wants to regulate the majority because of a minority of stupid people not properly taking care of their children.

Exactly! If I had a seatbelt in my car and the government didn’t tell me I had to wear one, I would still wear it! If I realized that I needed a booster seat because I was too short for my seatbelt and the government didn’t tell me to use one, I would still use it!

If anyone is to blame it is our society because many of us fail to do the smart thing due to our ignorance or indifference. This is nothing new to human nature, and it is further evidence of the necessity of government’s existence. Because the few bad apples spoil the whole barrel.

If one were in an accident, a seatbelt allows one to stay in a position where they could still control their car more often than if they did not wear one. If you can control your car you might be able to avoid further damage. So this law is not only intended for an individual’s safety, it is also for the safety of the community, which is one of the basic needs of society that government is supposed to govern, in any kind of social contract!

This is not intruding into our personal lives because, logically, we should be doing this regardless of a law, and driving a car does not only affect the individual driving it(so this is not completely our personal domain).

 

[Cari]

I still maintain that it is not only big government, but big government in bed with corporate America that’s at the root. If I had any free time, I’d go look into this new law in Washington. I’m willing to bet (and I don’t bet) that it was funded, in part, by car seat manufacturers.

Check out many of our “nanny state” laws, and you’ll find big business behind them. I’m not sure if I’d go as far as Cindy Sheehan did by declaring America a “fascist corportate wasteland”, but we can see it in the distance without a telescope, if you know what I mean.

Ever wonder why you can’t buy rootbeer with real sassafrass in it (no, you probably haven’t)? It’s because it contains a compund called safrole which has been linked to cancer in lab rats. So no more pure sassafrass rootbeer here in the US, no sir, we love our citizens too much to allow them to…hang on, let me light up another cigarette here…

oh yeah, I guess the poor Sassafrass rootbeer corporations didn’t have the same money power as Big Tobacco does…

Man, threads like this depress me.

 

[Island_Oak]

The big deal is that legislators are legislating everything. There are so many problems with their new law, like the example of the 15 yo straight A student that would have to transfer her booster seat to her dates car just to go to prom with him, or that she has to learn to drive in a booster seat (ok let’s think about this…need to be up higher for safety, then toes don’t hit the brake or the gas…

Yet another example of hysteria without understanding facts. How many 15-16 y.o. prom-goers and/or drivers out there are 4’9" and weigh less than 80 lbs.?! That’s the weight requirement of the law. It’s also the minimum body size that seatbelts are designed to restrain. With the exception of options on a few models, factory-installed seat belts simply aren’t intended to accommodate or restrain the bodies of small children–and airbags can be lethal to them. The WA law reflects the very same recommendation made by the American Academy of Pediatrics–not for purposes of being intrusive and meddling with parents–but to be informative because traffic accidents kill kids in greater numbers than anything else–especially in the absence of properly fitting restraints. Period.

Another factor here that is not explicitly stated in the article is that many older model cars are not equipped with modern seat belts (shoulder + waist restraint) and/or air bags. Anyone holding onto a late model car and/or buying one for their teen in an effort to save some $$ might take this into account–it IS a safety concern. Most reasonably responsible parents educate themselves about the safest alternatives for their kids and then make their choices accordingly. For the morons out there who don’t, sometimes the state does step in to protect innocent life. Hardly something to complain about.

Why protect kids to this extent and then promote that it is their body and if they want an abortion they don’t have to tell you? Abortions and even sex at this age is bad for the body… how about addressing that? It makes no sense.

So we’d be better off letting kids who do make it past live birth needlessly die in auto accidents?!? I’m all for expanding the rights of the pre-born, but y**our **argument is nothing more than cutting off your nose to spite your face and makes no sense.

 

[redmars3000]

Yet another example of hysteria without understanding facts.

So we’d be better off letting kids who do make it past live birth needlessly die in auto accidents?!? I’m all for expanding the rights of the pre-born, but y**our **argument is nothing more than cutting off your nose to spite your face and makes no sense.

applause