Dilemma

[KulRath]

Hi Folks,

My ex refuses to strap my 3 year old into a car seat when traveling (in a 2010 2 door Corsa no less, no ABS, no airbags etc)
He sits in the front seat with only the bottom half of a adult seat belt strapped across his lap. She has a perfectly good one in her garage.

No amount of begging, pleading, shouting, has made any impact, with her excuses being that her back is bad, it takes too long, short trips etc etc etc (he can at almost 4 years old get in and out of it himself and even release the straps.)

What the frack do I do?

I cannot personally believe the ignorance and/or total disregard for his safety that allows her to condone this...

I know it's theoretically illegal but as if our traffic cops would know any better (or cared) if they spotted this..

Help

 

[Nerfherder]

Its a R500 for not strapping a kid in but may be worse for putting him in front.

Kids under 12 shouldn't be in the front seat, there may be laws around that as well.

Your best bet might be to actually convince him that he needs to be in the back.... eish.

 

[Lupus]

Take her to court for negligence and get custody of your kid. Way to many South Africans do this with their kids it's ridiculous.

 

[The Horseman]

That is ridiculous. Although not very nice but perhaps take her over to live leak and search for child ejected from vehicle and see if anything comes up. She obviously doesn't know what happens to a person when they get ejected from a vehicle. Not very nice site.

It takes 40 seconds to strap a kid in. There should be no excuse for this kind of negligence. I won't even reverse my car until the kids are buckled up!

 

[krycor]

One more thing.. make it a habit for kid and explain to kid that he need to be at the back with seat belt. Make it fun, maybe even strap in a toy or two.

Parents technically need to enforce and will be held liable.. but reality is you need to instill good values in the kid.

From 3-3.5yrs their ability to reason and understand starts(varies) which is why discipline(more about setting rules, responsibilities etc not hiding/pakslaa) needs to start if you want an easy life going forward.

Anyways.. when you have a reckless other half yes .. you can attack her directly but really think about this. Does that mean your kid will always be buckled in or does it mean she will adhere for now till she stops again?