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A stroller would have helped, an adult who was more vigilant would have helped, instructing the child would have helped. A leash is not the only answer.
And not even a good option in a busy airport. People who are in a rush to get to their gate are not going to be looking down and noticing a leash stretching 3-4 feet across the walkway. Its not the time to let a child wander around. Either carry them or strap them in a stroller.
If customers can easily access the point where luggage can bypass airport employees, that's an enormous problem. And it has nothing to do at all with the safety of a toddler.
In this airport, if a customer can approach that luggage belt and place a piece of luggage that is not tied to a specific passenger on that belt, sight unseen, they have something here that needs fixing!
A customer cannot approach the check in gate luggage belt. Once again, it's behind the check-in counter.
That this toddler was able to is due to a combination of factors, #1 being that the mother was distracted, and "not for a moment", but over minutes. But the point here is that a number of life threatening issues may (and historically have) occurred during those moments of distraction. Maybe child abduction, maybe making it outside into traffic, maybe falling down a flight of stair, maybe falling off a balcony. All these are areas of danger far more likely to have occured and should be addressed as well. So your priority is luggage belts?
That a child happened to make it all the way to the check-in luggage belt, clearly a freak 1-off event, should be the least of our worries.
Some children need leashes. Some children, if you divert your attention away from them for 10 seconds, to do a necessary task of obtaining a boarding pass for a flight, will dart off and jump on a conveyor belt and climb around all over the luggage, showing no apparent fear whatsoever.
Most children won't do that. Most toddlers will stand there next to Mom while she performs a quick task.
That didn't take just 10 seconds. He had to walk away from his mother, walk around a counter, then approach the belt.
For the record, as a parent, your NECESSARY TASK is to watch your child. Secondary to that, you obtain a boarding pass. If you can't watch them, you carry them or hold their hand. If you can't do that AND obtain your boarding pass, you stay home.
Children aren't born knowing that they must stand next to mom. They must be taught that. But it appears that most modern parents are too lazy, stupid or self-centered to teach their children to behave. Then, when their rogue child does something dangerous, it's someone else that should have been protecting them or watching them.
A customer cannot approach the check in gate luggage belt. Once again, it's behind the check-in counter.
That this toddler was able to is due to a combination of factors, #1 being that the mother was distracted, and "not for a moment", but over minutes. But the point here is that a number of life threatening issues may (and historically have) occurred during those moments of distraction. Maybe child abduction, maybe making it outside into traffic, maybe falling down a flight of stair, maybe falling off a balcony. All these are areas of danger far more likely to have occured and should be addressed as well. So your priority is luggage belts? That a child happened to make it all the way to the check-in luggage belt, clearly a freak 1-off event, should be the least of our worries.
How do you know this is a 1-off event? Child abduction is much less likely to happen than some type of an accident. I thought people were aware by now that stranger abductions are extremely rare.
BTW, I once read a murder mystery where a couple of people got caught up in the baggage system at Denver International Airport. I can't for the life of me remember the title, and nothing came up for me in Google. But authors get their ideas from the news (among other places), so I doubt this never happened before.
How do you know this is a 1-off event? Child abduction is much less likely to happen than some type of an accident. I thought people were aware by now that stranger abductions are extremely rare.
BTW, I once read a murder mystery where a couple of people got caught up in the baggage system at Denver International Airport. I can't for the life of me remember the title, and nothing came up for me in Google. But authors get their ideas from the news (among other places), so I doubt this never happened before.
I know of no official studies but did a quick google search of "child, injury, luggage belt" from 2010 to 2018. (Amazing what I will do for this forum):
-Spain 2013- Baby killed in luggage belt accident - but this was in arrival area, baby was strapped in baby carrier. Mother left carrier on belt
-New Zealand 2018 - Boy 3 injured in luggage belt accident. This does say "at check-in counter" but no further details
-England 2016 - Young boy has suffered arm and leg injuries after being “trapped” on an airport baggage belt. Again in arrivals area.
So that's all I see. We can assume minor injuries are not reported but serious ones would be, based on that these were covered in major media sources. Feel free to contribute on the dangers but it seems from this admittedly unofficial and limited review is that the only risks are: a.) Non-US airports where safety controls may be less regulated, and b.) Arrivals baggage pickup where access is more accessable by the public. c.) 1 death and 2 serious injuries out of the tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions, of passengers taking air travel in that time range - seems rare.
Personally I would be more concerned about traffic as in many airports from the boarding pass kiosks - one way is the check in counter, the other way is to the doors outside and moving traffic. Let be lucky he somehow climbed over the check in counter barrier and found the belts, and didn't move into the other direction of the road.
A few weeks ago there was also an article from a foreign airport were an adult rode the baggage carrier - thinking that it was the correct way to board a plane. Obviously she had never flown before.
I am unwilling to judge the mother. Perhaps she was distracted, perhaps she is not used to managing a fearless child, perhaps many things. Perhaps this is her first child. Why speculate? Why be so judgmental?
Kids do unexpected things. My kids certainly did.
In the video the kid looks older than a toddler. He had no trouble climbing up onto the conveyor. He knew the thing was moving because he put his hands on it first. He had no fear. And he was not killed. And it happened quickly, just like stuff like this usually does.
I have only seen one other parent use a leash. When I saw it, I was surprised. But in a large, crowded area, I think it makes good sense. A stroller works too, although active children rebel against sitting in one too long, or sometimes even for a short time. It is easy for us to pick apart the actions of the mom. But it is pointless. She did not mean for her child to run off. She might be inexperienced or clueless, but she is likely not malicious. She’s been through enough. She was likely frightened out of her wits.
None of us here were perfect parents. And I bet we were all taken by surprise by something our kids did.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714
A customer cannot approach the check in gate luggage belt. Once again, it's behind the check-in counter.
That this toddler was able to is due to a combination of factors, #1 being that the mother was distracted, and "not for a moment", but over minutes. But the point here is that a number of life threatening issues may (and historically have) occurred during those moments of distraction. Maybe child abduction, maybe making it outside into traffic, maybe falling down a flight of stair, maybe falling off a balcony. All these are areas of danger far more likely to have occured and should be addressed as well. So your priority is luggage belts? That a child happened to make it all the way to the check-in luggage belt, clearly a freak 1-off event, should be the least of our worries.
I'm not sure how you can say that with confidence.
Your first statement is demonstrably false. Yes, a customer CAN approach the check in gate luggage belt, and in fact, get on the belt without being noticed.
It's clearly accessible to the public, if even a baby can do it.
I'm not sure how you can say that with confidence.
Your first statement is demonstrably false. Yes, a customer CAN approach the check in gate luggage belt, and in fact, get on the belt without being noticed.
It's clearly accessible to the public, if even a baby can do it.
When we get into semantics, if history has told us anything, anywhere and anyplace is accessible, including the white house with all it's security and safeguards. So it's simply arguing the degree of difficulty rather than if a little Houdini can get there or not.
This seems to be the issue - you can see the door on the upper left needed to get behind the counter seems to be open. There is probably some sort of knob or latch there that requires some effort to open, if it were closed properly. I am sure the airlines and airport are addressing it, as the article indicated.
But regardless, my point is this little guy traveled some distance, you can see also from this picture that this is an isolated area away from the public. There is all sort of mischief, potentially deadly, that he could have gotten into between here and there, or in another direction. Focus on those rather than simply that belt, and the only way is to focus on the root cause at the source. This is textbook "can't see the forest for the trees".
How do you know this is a 1-off event? Child abduction is much less likely to happen than some type of an accident. I thought people were aware by now that stranger abductions are extremely rare.
BTW, I once read a murder mystery where a couple of people got caught up in the baggage system at Denver International Airport. I can't for the life of me remember the title, and nothing came up for me in Google. But authors get their ideas from the news (among other places), so I doubt this never happened before.
I couldn't edit my original post but...same airport coincidentally. In this case they tried to grab kids with parents right there...so it happens.
Children dont need leashes. they need supervision. Mom is at fault here.
Yeah, this.
Common sense tells you that a toddler playing around on or near a luggage conveyor belt is not a good idea.
I wish parents would supervise their children better....some just let them go crazy.
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