Quote:
Originally posted by nfotiu@Oct 3 2005, 08:32 PM
I'm sorry about your co-worker, that is an awful story.
I guess my questions are though, was an airbag involved? Was there any factor, in particular about the child sitting in the front seat that caused such severe injuries? Would injury have been avoided or less severe by sitting in a rear seat?
There is some level of risk we all assume every time we put a child in a car. Various different cars provide various levels of safety. Would you be so harsh to someone driving their child a Chevy Astro, when they know that their occupants are about 4 to 5 times more likely to die in a crash as compared to the safest cars available? Or how about people who drive their kids around in SUVs that are 10 or 20 times more likely to rollover than mine? Which is the worse risk?
I guess no one here seems to do this, so it does seem obviously socially unacceptable, which is probably enough for me to not do it (I don't want to be the guy that every things is being reckless with his child). But nobody has convinced me that there is real evidence to suggest that this really is a dangerous practice, and not just something that people have accepted is wrong for whatever reason.
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I never pressed the guy on the details so, all I know was that it was a case of moving the baby seat from the back of the car to the front in order to be able to sooth the fussybaby better. Either the seat was inproperly anchored, was never intended for front seat use, straps inadequately adjusted or something like that but, the baby ended up ejected through the window when the car spun and rolled and the girl spent age 2-7 in a wheel chair with permanent damage to her spine and legs. Many surgeries followed and she had made some progress in regaining some use of her legs. After a routine surgery that was deemed to be a success, my co-worker spent the night with her at the children's hospital. He fell asleep holding his daughter...he awoke in the morning to find his daughter cold in his arms...she had died in the night. The horror of something like that isn't something I'd want anybody else to go through.
I didn't mean to come off harsh or attack you (don't think I did). Not sure where you you're going with the Astro or SUV stuff...everybody gets to make their own decisions as an adult and I'm sure you'll do what you think is best. I just wanted to let you know about my co-worker....I'm not intending to crusade here.