Last week, a 10-year-old boy was taken to a Los Angeles children's hospital in critical condition after "car surfing" on top of a car with one of his parents behind the wheel. Unfortunately, he fell off and got run over by the same car! Car surfing basically entails standing on top (or hanging off of) a moving car, riding it like a surfboard. Last month, a 23-year-old woman was hanging out of a rear passenger window of a moving vehicle while on spring break in Florida when she suddenly fell out of the car and landed on the highway as the driver was changing lanes. Another driver could not avoid her and crushed her to death. Accidents happen, but there are certainly times when responsible parenting and some basic common sense could prevent careless and reckless accidents.
The danger of falling out of a moving vehicle came to my attention quite strongly yesterday while I was driving back to the office from lunch. An old white car pulled up alongside me at a stoplight. In the vehicle to my left was an overweight woman behind the wheel with a cell phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other. In the passenger seat was a 20-something man with extensive tattoos who was smoking a cigarette. In the backseat, on the driver's side, was a young girl who couldn't have been older than age 6. She was not in a seat belt (and she didn't have a child/booster seat) and was actually hanging halfway out of her rolled down window -- reaching towards, and slapping, a parked car next to their vehicle.
In Indiana (where I reside), the law states that all occupants of a vehicle must be wearing a seat belt. I could not believe the absolute danger that I was seeing of this little girl hanging halfway out of the window (balancing on her waist!), hitting parked cars. I rolled down my window and said to the man sitting in the passenger seat with his window down, "Excuse me, but do you see that the little girl is hitting other cars and close to falling out of the window?" He glanced back at the girl, and then looked at me and said: "F_ck off!" Just then, the light turned green and the woman poured on the gas, the little girl still hanging out of the window with her head getting very close to other parked cars along the roadway. They shot down a one way street as I was in another lane and I lost sight of them, failing to capture their vehicle's make/model and license plate number (to call 911) because I was so focused on the little girl and whether she would fall out. It truly made me angry to see such irresponsibility and direct disregard for the law and for the safety of a child.
Too often I see young children who are acting inappropriately and are with adults who don't seem to care -- as I witnessed yesterday. There is nothing wrong with correcting and disciplining a child -- particularly for his or her well being! In fact, it's Biblical -- Proverbs 13:24, "... the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them." Often, parents forget that the point of disciplining children is to give them firm guidelines and limits so that they don't need to experience a negative consequence for poor choices/actions. Disciplining means setting up boundaries and expectations so that kids know what is expected of them. The primary goal is to have kids learn to eventually regulate themselves so that they don't need to be corrected or disciplined. Sadly, there are parents that don't want to put in the consistent effort of parenting. Regardless, when I see a child who is in genuine danger while with an inattentive and/or unconcerned parent, I will always say something. What I witnessed yesterday was nothing short of child endangerment -- it being a crime to endanger the health or life of a child through an adult's recklessness or indifference.
From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),
Paul J. Staso
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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek
Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:
- United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
- Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
- Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
- Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
- The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
- Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
- Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
- Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
- Some Cycling Moments From The Past
