Priorities and common sense

[protege]

Yeah, I had one, too. It had black vinyl seat pads and a bare metal bar. Which was quite unpleasant in the summertime. In PHOENIX!

I bet that was painful! Vinyl car seats are bad enough.... First car I had, the Tercel, had black and grey vinyl seats...and *no* air conditioning PA isn't nearly as bad as Phoenix, but it was still un-freaking-believeable. Only way to cool off, was to use the "2-70" method. That is, drop 2 windows, and go 70mph.

I should clear up something about the MG. It *did* have seatbelts in the front, but none in the back. They were OK for occasional use, but sucked on long trips--they aren't "inertia-reel" types, but simply heavy, cloth belts. The few times I wore them, I could barely breathe! Even so, they were better than nothing. Modern belts look out of place in that car, but I'm having new ones installed. Better be safe than sorry.

[Bliss]

I think they should be dug out and shot just for installing 4 rear speakers to hear loud music emanating just from the area where the poor baby will be... can you think of the distress?

Edit:
You know, every so ofter when reading examples of SP (Sucky Parents) in here I get this urge of grabbing a baseball bat and clubing them in the back while yelling "BAD PERSON, BAD PERSON" why the HELL will someone have kids if they're not ready to give LOVE... responsability and everything else comes from love. If you will have a kid as an accessory, then don't have it, period.

[reformedwaitress]

Driving down through Florida last week (that's a LONG drive by the way!) I was behind this one car that had what I thought was a towel rolled up in the back window. Until said towel turned around, looked at me and started WAVING AT ME!!

There was a child laying in the back window of the car. She then got down and started climbing all over the backseat.

I called 911 on my cell phone and told the operator where I was on the highway and the make, model, and tag of the car. She said she would try and send someone out. The person got off the highway before I saw a cop, but I can only hope that they got pulled over. That's just dangerous! There were going 80something mph down the highway with they're daughter completely unrestrained and crawling around!

[KaeZoo]

I think they should be dug out and shot just for installing 4 rear speakers to hear loud music emanating just from the area where the poor baby will be... can you think of the distress?

No, no; I was replacing factory speakers with after-market upgrades, not adding more. One of the original speakers was defective.

I was personally disturbed by the customers' priorities (which is why I started the thread) but I'm surprised to see so many "new speakers = child abuse" comments.

Although I have seen and installed high-powered subwoofer systems into vehicles with child seats, most of the "boomers" turn it down when the kids are in the car. Some ask for a switch so they can turn off the subs when they need to. So please, don't equate new car audio equipment with child abuse, and don't judge everyone who buys new speakers by the idiots you get stuck next to at the red light. I've put a fair bit of money into my own vehicle's system, but you won't hear it when you're next to me on the road, and my kids can hear just fine.

[iradney]

When I was a sprog, we didn't go anywhere till I buckeled up. No buckle = no movement. I learnt quickly

Another thing that bugs me is not the poor folk without carseats (I dunno if we have a similar program here that you have in the US), but the rich idiots who speed down the highway at 200kph with little Junior/ette standing up in the front seat make me see a red mist.
And then, when they have to suddenly brake or swerve, and little Junior/ette becomes a glass studded missile, they're all "Woe is me! My little one is dead *wail wail wail*"
If you don't take the 2 minutes needed to strap your kid in, and if you don't want to deal with the few minutes of moaning and whinging they'll give, then it is your fault that your child is dead, and I believe you should be strung up by your thumbs till you are dead. If you can afford to buy a R500 000 car, you can afford to pay for a baby seat, dammit
</rant>

[Hemily]

we always had carseats, even needed two or three at once, as my three siblings were close in age, so a booster seat for my oldest little sis, and the two others born the same year, in baby seats, we needed a roomy car

as for seatbelts, it's a habit for me, if i'm just getting in to move the car a couple feet, i put it on, i miss my Volvo, it had a flashing light and a loud ticking sound, if you didenæt put the belt on, same went for passenger seat, friends always compained about that ticking sound, and always got the respond "it'll go away if you just put on the seatbelt..."

my buick is a bit annoying, it doesen't have seatbelts in the backseat, well, it has one for the passenger in the middle, but not the one on the right or left..., no places to fasten one either if i wanted to add some later :\

i might get myself another car to use though, the buick is too thirsty to drive to work everyday, we don't have cheap gasoline like you folks in americaland

[Banrion]

i might get myself another car to use though, the buick is too thirsty to drive to work everyday, we don't have cheap gasoline like you folks in americaland

What are gas prices like overthere nowdays?? We are right around $2.50 gallon now, which is pretty high.

[reformedwaitress]

What are gas prices like overthere nowdays?? We are right around $2.50 gallon now, which is pretty high.

Oh honey, I don't know what her's are like specifically, but worldwide comparison? $2.50 is NOTHING.

There are a few countries around the world that have cheaper gas than America, but of the "same development stage" consideration? We probably have the cheapest gas of anyone. It is not uncommon for the UK or the Netherlands to be paying 2 or 3 times what we pay.

[protege]

Oh honey, I don't know what her's are like specifically, but worldwide comparison? $2.50 is NOTHING.

Especially since gasoline is sold by the liter in some places. Dad was in China last year teaching English. When he came back, he was amazed at the people here bitching about the relatively cheap gas prices. Last year, when it was announced that gas was say, $1 a liter in China, some misinformed people here were going apeshit. They automatically assumed that 1 liter = 1 gallon. Too lazy (or stupid) to convert that correctly--there are roughly 4 liters in a gallon

[Banrion]

Oh honey, I don't know what her's are like specifically, but worldwide comparison? $2.50 is NOTHING.

Oh I know, when I was in London a few years back, I seem to remember gas being ridiculously expensive. Made driving from London to Edinburg much more expensive than I had planned. I was just wondering the dicrepancy now.

[scruff]

I got a lift from a friend last weekend (near Exeter, UK), and if I read the price board right, it was 88p a litre.
(not a car owner myself)

[Witch of Endor]

Toronto is paying about a dollar a litre right now.

EDIT: Err, that's a Canadian dollar, which is about $0.85 USD at the moment.

[MadMike]

OK, we just had to delete a second "joke" that implied that kids getting killed because their parents were too cheap and stupid to use a car seat is actually a good thing, because of "natural selection", less kids growing up to be sucky customers, etc.

I'll admit I have a very warped sense of humor, but I will not tolerate "jokes" such as these. They are not funny, and can be quite hurtful to those of us who do have kids, and I imagine even moreso to those of us who might have lost a child.

I was going to contact the offender privately, but I figured I should post something publicly so that no one gets the bright idea to post more hilarious jokes like those.

[protege]

Toronto is paying about a dollar a litre right now.

EDIT: Err, that's a Canadian dollar, which is about $0.85 USD at the moment.

That's about $3.40 (US) a gallon, slightly less than a dollar more than the price here. Gas this morning was about $2.60 a gallon for 87 octane.

[XCashier]

I bet that was painful! Vinyl car seats are bad enough.... First car I had, the Tercel, had black and grey vinyl seats...and *no* air conditioning

Yeah, my parents' cars had vinyl seats, too. Lots of fun in the summer, even with working AC. We had to put thick bath towels on the seats to avoid burned skin.

The good old days weren't always very good. Thank God for modern cloth seats!