Friday, October 12, 2012

I find this cynically delightful!


I've always been somewhat annoyed by the pretentiousness of those 'Baby On Board' stickers or placards displayed in the rear windows of many cars, minivans and SUV's.  My response is always "So what?"  Do they really expect me to drive any better (or worse) at the knowledge that there's a child involved?  Surely mothers expect the same (careful, attentive) standard of driving from others even if they're alone in their vehicle?

In that light, I found this report in the Telegraph irresistibly amusing.

Baby on board stickers have led to one in 20 motorists having an accident, a survey has claimed.

Designed to alert the emergency services that a baby or small child is in the car in the event of an accident and encourage other drivers to be more careful aroud them, the stickers are being criticised as a distraction in their own right.

In part the problem is because they can obscure a driver’s vision through the car’s rear window.

. . .

According to the poll of 2,000 drivers, 46 per cent of parents displayed the stickers irrespective of whether there was a child in the car at the time or not.

In addition 15 per cent said they had the stickers for their novelty value, while 46 per cent regarded them as a hazard.

. . .

Although it is said they can alert emergency services to the presence of a child, their original purpose was to encourage other motorists to drive carefully in the presence of a car carrying a child.


There's more at the link.

Oh, the delicious irony . . .





Peter

6 comments:

  1. Are these a thing again? I haven't seen one in years.

    The first time around, my favorite response was the one that read, "Baby carries no cash."

    ReplyDelete
  2. If they really were worried about the babys safety, THEY shouldn't be driving like g1cks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. err...that would be *d1cks*- I hate this keyboard.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I Give Birth To Offspring, Therefore I Am Special.

    It was never about the children.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It may be apocryphal, but I always understood that the origin of the signs was to notify 1st responders in case of an accident. Of course now they are the signage equivalent of crying wolf.

    Steve

    ReplyDelete

ALL COMMENTS ARE MODERATED. THEY WILL APPEAR AFTER OWNER APPROVAL, WHICH MAY BE DELAYED.