Ratting out bad parents
Posted
November 26, 2007 at
10:49 am by
Prescott
A good idea or a case of mind your own business?
A new Illinois state-sponsored program called “Be a Buckle Buddy” — seriously? — provides a hotline for folks to call if they spot a fellow motorist that doesn’t have their kids properly restrained in the vehicle. The owner of the car is then tracked down and sent a warning and pamphlets on child safety:
“The intent is not to be punitive in any manner,” said Chris Franciskovich, regional communications manager for Children’s Hospital of Illinois. The Peoria-based hospital, the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Department and Peoria-Area Safe Kids Coalition started the program in 2004.
Franciskovich pulls messages off the hotline once a week and faxes information — ideally, the license plate, kind of vehicle, location of incident, date and time — to the appropriate departments. If a caller gives just a plate number, he gives it to Tazewell, which covers for the entire state.
The police do not tell Franciskovich’s hospital where any offenders live and since the call is routed through the hospital’s switchboard, Franciskovich does not even see the area code from which the reporting person is calling.
The packet contains a brochure about car seat safety; another brochure, about car seat safety for children with special needs; and an IDOT brochure about Illinois’ Child Passenger Protection Act.
Of course I completely understand the importance of safely buckling kids into the car, but doesn’t this seem a bit creepy? To get some envelope in the mail out of nowhere that essentially says, “We’re watching you!” seems a bit much to me, and I’m torn on the subject. What do you think? Is this level of busybody-ness warranted?
Tags: buckle-buddy, child-safety, seat-belts, Social Issues |
13 Responses to “Ratting out bad parents”
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1. Allison said:
November 26, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
I agree, it is a bit creepy. It’s bad enough to get a ticket in the mail for those red light cameras that catch you running a red light, but to now have a pamphlet that says we see you AND YOUR KIDS. Yikes!
Besides, in no time at all, people will be calling these hotlines for all kinds of things and your mailbox will be flooded with pamhplets like
“Eating in the Car–You’re Not Driving in a McResaurant”
“Shut Up and Drive–It’s Not Just a Country Song Anymore. Learn to Hang Up Your Phone”
“Applying Make-Up in the Car? Remember, an Ugly Driver is a Safe Driver”
“Hey Road-Rager, You Just Need a Hug”
2. Hope said:
November 26, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
I don’t think it’s creepy at all. If you saw someone banging their kids head against a wall in a store would you not intervene? If I see a child not buckled into a proper restraint I’m for darn sure calling 911. If you don’t want to wear your seatbelt, well then be an idiot, but children who don’t know better need to be protected.
3. Prescott said:
November 26, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
While certainly I acknowledge the extreme importance of child vehicle restraints, I don’t think your analogy is quite apt. Not buckling your kid in is surely reckless, but it’s not physical abuse.
4. Meg said:
November 26, 2007 @ 8:26 pm
Child abuse analogies aside, there are times I would love to have someone send Allison’s pamphlets to people I have seen driving. And I am also in favor of a hotline for people who smoke when their kids are in the car.
5. julymom said:
November 27, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
I don’t have a problem with it. I’m actually surprised there would be no CPS follow up. Doesn’t every state have child seat laws anyway? So by not buckling a child into a safety seat or at the very least a seatbelt, aren’t they breaking the law? This is one of my serious hot button issues. Buckle your kids up! My ds was rear facing until he was 3 and is still in a 5 point harness seat (Britax makes them that go up to 85lbs I think) and will be as long as he fits into his seat. IMO, there is really no excuse for not properly buckling up your children. Yes, some car seats are expensive, but there are cheaper versions available and a car seat is far less expensive than a funeral.
6. Vic said:
November 27, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
While I am often worried about “the state” taking too much control in our lives, when it comes to public safety, I believe that citizens do have a responsibility to report possible violations of the law. We all would call 911 if we saw a driver weaving and driving dangerously and I think this falls into the same category. I also think the government response, a warning (not a ticket) and information promoting child safety is appropriate.
I don’t think Allison’s comments are analogous because there are no laws (in most states) against eating, singing or being pretty behind the wheel.
I do appreciate your posts, Preston, always thought provoking.
7. Ken said:
December 2, 2007 @ 7:58 am
I still remember the days when your neighbor was your friend and was able to suggest things that could be of saftey value for a parent that was not so experienced but of course that was nearly 40 years ago. Whatever happend to it take a community to raise a child? Personally even if there were no laws in effect for child saftey I would have to report that individual someone has to be an advocate for our little ones. As a parent of a toddler even if my child doesn’t want to sit in her chair my vehicle does not move without restrains. there is nothing worse that watching the nightly news and seeing a parent getting charge with vehicular manslaughter because of failing to restrain their child.
8. Connie said:
December 4, 2007 @ 11:38 am
Frankly, getting a phamplet in the mail like that would scare the crap out of me, so maybe it’s a good thing!
I spent some time working a second job at a Mc Drive-through for a while and around 1 out of 4 cars did not have their child properly restrained.
It’s dangerous for the baby, I would think that most parents would have more sense than that.
9. Kadi said:
December 5, 2007 @ 12:28 am
That would really creep me out. My 15 passenger van is very long (that kinda goes w/out saying.) Sometimes I am unaware of a kid who has unbuckled their seat belt and sneaked into the back, in order to make faces at the car behind us. I always stop the van when I realize what has happened, or when the car behind us drives by and flips us off. But I would feel so creeped out to get a warning in the mail. I usually give the “buckle up” signal to the perpetrator as we drive by. It usually does the trick. My husband has been known to yell at the parent, which I don’t really like, but hey…whatever gets that kid in a seat belt!!
10. Angela Canny said:
February 29, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
It’s very creepy. Turning your neighbors over to the State isn’t creepy? Hint: it was creepy when the Germans did it.
And yet most people here seem on board with it.
Wow. Just wow.
It doesn’t take a community to raise s child. Children do not belong to the State. Children belong to the parents.
40 years ago we drove around in the back of pick-up trucks. The best way to stay good neighbors involved keeping your mouth shut and minding your own business.
Welcome to the “Land of the free, and the home of constant surveillance.”
11. Hope said:
March 2, 2008 @ 10:18 am
[quote comment="126816"]While certainly I acknowledge the extreme importance of child vehicle restraints, I don’t think your analogy is quite apt. Not buckling your kid in is surely reckless, but it’s not physical abuse.[/quote]
Umm, it’s not physical abuse when your child flies out of the car and smashes his head into the pavement?
While maybe Vic has a better analogy than mine, it is still the same. As an adult you can choose to break the law, but don’t cry when you get arrested. They are lucky all they are getting is a pamplet in the mail.
12. Anne said:
June 1, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
The LEADING cause of death in children is automobile accidents. Enough said.
13. jenna roberts said:
June 2, 2008 @ 10:46 am
As someone who has a very strong view about our right as parents to parent with minimal govt. and state interference this report distresses me. For those of you whose argument is “well it is good for the kids.” Lots of things are good and safe for our kids and as parents it is OUR job to decide the whens and if’s for our children. If you do not buckle your child it is the job of law enforcement to cite the parent for endangerment. There are times when in a dangerous situation women and their children have to flee for safety reasons and sometimes their kids do not have car seats. You just never know the situation and I think the state and the gov’t in general have more important fish to fry and should stop trying to tighten their noose on parents. If they get a little invasive victory such as this one, who knows what is next in line.