If you think that talking on the cell phone and driving is dangerous, wait till you hear what else this woman did: she breastfed her baby while driving her other children to school!
Police say it is against the law to drive with a child in your lap. Children under 4 or 40 pounds must be properly restrained in a child safety seat.
In this case, officers said Compton had the child in the lap with the baby's head up against the steering wheel. They say there is not only the risk of a crash, but deployment of the airbag.
Compton said she will take the advice of the officers into consideration, but she may breast feed her baby while driving in the future if she feels that is is necessary.
If you think about it, she's got some skillz breast feeding, talking on the phone, and driving all at the same time!
WHIO Dayton TV has the story (and video clip): Link
no, words fail me. This is beyond.... stupid.
Just cause she MIGHT be able to drive safely like this, some people have amazing multitasking abilities, what about the other millions of people out there that can't drive?? I'm appalled. Only fines? wow....
We all like to pick on one person for doing something we can point the finger at, and call them "Wrong". It makes us feel better about ourselves.
I could try to make others feel just as inadequate by pointing out the fact that they drove their kids into a fast food joint, or parked their kids in front of a T.V., sent their kids to a public school, cultish church, or bottle fed them. But I won't. (not)
Okay, I will.
Living in this country is like living in a very large dysfunctional family, where almost everyone hates everyone else and is just looking for some reason to blame them for something, while at the same time not wanting to get any blame for anything themselves.
Quit looking for the speck in other's eyes, while you have a pole in yours. That's a paraphrased quote from Jesus, who as we all know, had a mother who would have never thought of driving while nursing, taking her kid to a fast food joint, parking him in front of a T.V., sending him to a public school, or bottle feeding.
What's the point of singing her praises for breast feeding when someone else might easily hit her and send that baby through the windshield and spatter it all over the road? That's like ordering a Super Size meal and a Diet Coke because Diet Coke only has one calorie.
Stupid behavior, which this plainly is, deserves criticism. It's not claiming that I or anyone else is perfect. I don't have children, nor do I want them. I also don't pretend to be perfect. It's calling someone out for endangering another life. I don't care how she endangers herself because that is her business, but taking her child's life and putting it at such tremendous risk because she can't manage to pull over for a few minutes is irresponsible, stupid, and bad parenting.
I've not had an at-fault accident in twenty years of driving, but I still wear a seatbelt and make sure my kids do. Both accidents I have had involved being driven into from behind while stationary - in which case a seatbelt wouldn't help, but I /still/ wear one even after 250,000 miles of driving without ever having to need one.
(That baby's neck will snap like a twig if she has a fender-bender, too.)
If a mother can be charged with manslaughter for her child's death due to an improperly installed carseat (like in Spokane WA), then this woman deserves charges of her own. Endangering a child, if nothing else.
'She’s an idiot, plain and simple.' Yep.
If something happens to the child, we won't have to worry about this happening again in another 16 years.
DAR WINS AGAIN!
Statistics determine that a child safety seat is the safest place for a baby, but do those statistics take into account the accidents caused by a screaming baby distracting a parent or trying to sooth a baby while reaching behind you to a baby facing the back window? When they cry so hard they choke and you worry they might be more than just upset? Do they take into account how the persistent and frequent unanswered screaming of a baby affects their health and development?
Also, is it really safer to pull over to the side of the road and nurse? My family pulled over into the break-down lane and a truck slammed into them. One member died and the rest have had severe lifelong consequences. I would never, ever pull over on a highway unless it was an emergency.
It isn't always the dumb following of rules that is the best route of decision-making. Sometimes you have to make your own decisions and unless you're in that person's shoes it's pretty hard to try to judge them and things are usually a shade of grey.
"There is no reason we should ever concern ourselves with the actions of others. Today, the antiquated concepts of "good judgment, common sense, and consequences" have no place in our modern society. People should be able to do what ever they want, including endangering the lives of others. Who are we to judge."
The above view is brought to you by those who, in matters of antisocial behavior, deny that the Emperor has no clothes. I, for one, am happy to say that there is no legitimate reason to breastfeed while driving. None. She had, and still has, options to handle this situation.
As to the excuse makers who are defending this stellar mom, just what situation could occur that would lead you to say "...now that was a bad decision, and they should be punished..."? Don't try to make some wimpy "...they took God out of public schools...", or "...oh, we're killing Gaia..." crap, either.
I mean, be honest. What type of depraved act would one person have to commit on another person to motivate you to call the action wrong, and the perp., after the act is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, worthy of punishment? Murder, Rape, Child Abuse. Are these acts OK, too? Maybe in some culture, somewhere, but not in our culture.
Now, please excuse me while I vomit up my breakfast, after having to read your pathetic support for this "Good Mother".
You mean encourage smart people to have kids, and stupid ones not to have kids? That's downright un-American.
Yes, probably not the greatest thing, but every parent makes mistakes and poor decisions and if that was reason enough to be taken away, we'd all be adopted or orphans.
Allowing children to climb trees should be illegal too, definitely, and heaven forbid we allow any kind of risk. There was a time when car seats didn't exist and most people survived, even driving and breast-feeding. There is a great deal of difference between risk and actual harm. The child wasn't beaten, raped, or murdered - subjected to a greater sense of risk than commonly accepted - yes.
The whole "it could be worse" attitude really misses the point. The child isn't being beaten and raped, no, but that doesn't take away the complete diregard for common sense his mother has shown. That's like saying that a serial killer isn't so bad because he donates to charity.