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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: What's up with kids in cars here?
I catch alot of buses here in Qingdao, so I look down on many cars with unrestrained babes, toddlers & young kids. And many parents without seatbelts. What are they thinking ( or non) will happen in case of an accident? And the way they drive here well.....that child won't survive an accident.
They will do almost anything for their precious child, beg/borrow/steal to send them overseas for a good educ. & invariably life, but something as simple & cheap as buying a baby seat/capsul (I rarely seen) or strapping your kid in is beyond them? Really I don't get this one. The same in your city? Any thoughts ?
10 years 41 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
I have, sadly, wondered how far a 5 year old can fly when he is standing with his head out the sunroof. I hope I will never learn.
Chinese are very lucky, id say. they drive like crazy but in most cases manage to get away with it. i did saw a couple of accidents here but considering HOW they drive, i could expect mush more...
Yes, Samm is right. They must be lucky. A recent post asked about the weirdest thing you can see in China.... Well, it must be how they have no concept of self-preservation...vis a vie; surviving the most incompetent/oblivious driving environment on the Earth.
Durr....put on the fkn seatbelt!
Or course, if you're in the back, you can't.
Spazzo's.
FYI....Australia the first county to enforce compulsory seat belt wearing....circa 1971 (give or take...).
How bout the selfish, braindead mongoloids that drive along with baby on their laps!!! They reallty give me the shits@
Poster; Yes, traffic in QD is problematic. Rational thinking is as rare there as anywhere else in China, I'll wager.
The same thing happens not just in Qindao.
10 years ago, you can't see many cars on the road, and of cause no traffic jam.
5 years ago, a lot of drivers didn't know what child steat is. Also, it's hard to find on in the stores.
I don't feel safe without seat belts, but i know a lot of people don't like seat belts although it is required to fasten seat belts.
but now at least in Shanghai most people seat at the front will fasten seat belts, and i saw baby seat several times.
OK, about the ' crazing chiese driving'... you know what, when i was in the driving school in china, my teacher told me to be ' clever', to judge fast by your eyes and brain. He didn't tell me to obey the traffic rules. Also, it seems that every driver is racing...
andy74rc:
Judge fast by your eyes and brain? While driving? Seriously??? They're goddamned non reactive deadbrainers behind a wheel....
it doesnt make any sense to me either. Thier golden child has no protection at all. It makes me more angry when you see a dad on a motorcycle with a helmet but his wife and kid on the back just have to hope they dont get brain trauma. jesus u cant pass the helmet back? i will say one thing. it looks like they are driving fast because its all so hectic but the real reason people arent dead all over the road is infact because chinese drive hella slow. 80% anyways. thats why ur taxi is always weaving in and out of traffic. everyone is driving the usual 20 under the speed limit.
Samm11:
Agreed. When I visit home, it takes me about a week to get used to super fast driving. I'm afraid to cross roads there after being in China =)
Scandinavian:
Protecting their one gold child is very important. But the most important thing is to always allow the little brat to do whatever he feels like.
chiarahz:
Scandinavian, you nailed it! I have a child too here, and my husband is Chinese. After almost three years of asking, almost begging my father in law to buy a baby seat for his car I had no results. The only thing I could get him to agree to do is having my mother in law ride the car with him and sit in the back with my son on her laps. Result: I try and do all the driving myself, and don't rely on my father-in-law's help as much as I would need to. Needless to say, when my son rides our car (whether it's me driving or my husband) he always sits in his baby seat, seatbelts buckled. And he has almost never complained. For parents and grandparents here it is simply impossible to enforce rules because that will upset the poor baby: this is just another example. What really confuses me, is all the other, let's say, bizarre rules that are (kind of)enforced here. For example, they all get super angry when a toddler sucks on his thumb or hand and will even slap her in order to stop the behavior. How does that compare to riding in the front seat of a car unrestrained? How is sucking one's own thumb more dangerous than riding unrestrained? Why are they willing to slap their kids for something that unimportant and then risk their lives just so not to upset them? This is what really leaves me wondering.
Scandinavian:
@chiarahz: Do you let people drive your child around without proper safety precautions. Sitting in the back holding the child is probably just as effective as just putting the child of the hood.
Fact. You can't hold onto anything during a crash. The g-forces involved means a kid would turn into a 100-200kg lump of meat that you are trying to stop from 50km/t in half a meter, using your arms. No one on earth has that strength.
Fact. The grandfather would most likely harm the child when his body weight is crushed against the child.
dom87:
kids use a baby seat because they are not tall enough to get covered by the seatbelt or the seatbelt would be attached to their neck.
with someone sitting under the kid, the kid is tall enough for the regular seatbelt, at least that works.
But i guess its still not very safe because the adult might smash the kid during the accident
Hey Chiarahz ~ totally agree! My good mate here is going thru same kind of BS with their 1st born. His Chinese wife is cool, but her family insist on these traditional beliefs, but not on a baby seat. Unf**#believable!
You can't fight stupidity, ignorance and lack of common sense with logic explanations. Only kicks in the ass help.
Guess I am too old. I managed to grow up no problem without seatbelt laws, or even seatbelts in the car.
Visco8:
May be..just maybe you were one of the lucky ones or were in a country with good traffic laws. Would you do the same for your child in China?? i.e. no restraints, and take your luck?
wuweizea:
No it was at a time in a country when cars were large and made of steel. They did not crumple like beer cans when they hit a rubber ball like today. The only point is I believe in freedom plain and simple. I feel you can inform someone of the benifits and dangers of something and let them make their own choice. Creating laws to limit those choices or looking down on someone else for the choices they make is simply ignorant.
Scandinavian:
"cars large and made of steel" is a statement people who don't understand safety will use ..... think about it
(I will retract this comment should you prove to be Superman)
wuweizea:
The reality is I have personally had a 2000 Toyota literally bounce off of my 63 Bonneville. Toyota was completely destroyed and had to be put on a flat bed wrecker. I drove away without even a dent. Did not even feel it, only heard him bounce off of it like the beer can it is.
wuweizea:
Safety is an illusion, and those that would sacrifice freedom for it will have neither.
Seat belts save lives. End of story.
People who opt not to put one on are exercising their right to be stupid.
Parents who don't properly restrain their little children are guilty of neglect. And far too often that'll turn out to be culpable neglect.
But....the usual rider to explain these things....."Many people in China. Very very busy, very very tired..."
Head off, pumpkin on.
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