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A concerned citizen called police when he spotted a woman breastfeeding her infant while driving. The mom is facing up to 180 days in jail plus fines of up to $1,950 if convicted on charges of child endangerment and unlawfully restraining her child.
So...
1. Thoughts on the fact the driver called the police? Would you have called the police?
2. Should she be fined or what action, if any, should be taken?
My initial reaction was horror that someone had called the police - the civil rights aspect of it. If you spank your child in public you risk arrest, the child being taken away from you and placed in foster care, etc. .. now a mom is charged for breastfeeding while driving! (OK, not the smartest thing but worthy of police action?)
On the flip side, and especially after reading more about the circumstances (such as she was also on a cell phone and had other children in the car), it appears she was endangering her child as well as other drivers.
Gosh, when my oldest was young, car seats were basically nothing but booster seats and a lot of cars didn't even have seat belts. How did anyone survive?
I'm sorry, but breastfeeding and chatting on the phone while driving IS child endangerment. I'm not sure if I'd call the police or not, but if the mother looked distracted enough, I just might. Not only is that a risk to herself and her infant, but to other people on the road who are driving responsibly.
I'm all for personal liberty but there is a place for laws, particularly laws that protect people from being killed by the stupidity and recklessness of others. Also, driving is not a right - it's a privilege. When you get behind a the wheel of what is ostensibly a moving weapon on wheels, you agree to abide by certain laws. One of those laws is that children under a certain weight and height riding in your vehicle be secure in a car seat.
I've also breastfed two children and know that it has the potential to be a huge distraction - if the baby pops off and milk is spraying, needs to switch to the other breast, removing/replacing the nursing top/bra, etc. TOTALLY irresponsible driving even forgetting the whole carseat issue.
My initial reaction was horror that someone had called the police - the civil rights aspect of it. If you spank your child in public you risk arrest, the child being taken away from you and placed in foster care, etc. .. now a mom is charged for breastfeeding while driving! (OK, not the smartest thing but worthy of police action?)
If a person wants to drive and do something else simultaneously he would only be endangering his own life (and that of any other victim if he caused an accident). The thing with women breastfeeding while driving is that the child is completely dependent on his mother.
So I definitely would've called (or stopped her myself if she was just driving off the parking lot to ask her what she was thinking) because the mother is not looking out for the best interest of her child.
I would have called the police. Think of it this way, if she were to stop suddenly the baby would be wedged between his mothers torso and the steering wheel. Even in a low impact fendbender the baby would most likely have serious injury if not death --- and if the car was equipped with air bags! There would be no way for that baby to survive that scenario.
Add into this the woman was talking on a cell and had other kids in the car as well --- she deserves to have her lisence suspended till her youngest child is in high school. Stupidity and selfishness ought not be rewarded.
I would not have until I saw mention that she was also on the cell phone. Too much multi-tasking going on there and her baby is not gonna survive the mildest of crashes which becomes very likely at that point.
As Camping says, if that airbag goes off, the infant being breast-fed becomes part of the air bag system. That is about as stupid and careless as it gets. I'd site her with wreckless driving because there again, too much multi-tasking as it is, so she's endangering other motorists AND pedestrians, not to mention disregard for her child, other children, and family to those children.
Her actions are almost too stupid for words. I can start to lose a little awareness driving if I try to glance down at a map. I can't image that combination. The scary part is that she is remorseless.
She was driving, breastfeeding, AND talking on the cell phone? Calling the police is only a half measure in her case; she ought to have her license revoked. And if the courts decided to take the child away from her on a charge of child endangerment, it would be hard to argue against that, as well.
You have the right to be an idiot if you so choose--but when your idiotic behavior affects another human being (much less a helpless child) then it becomes a problem that should be dealt with quickly.
Breast feeding while driving means a child isn't in a car seat so it IS UNSAFE and i would have called the cops as well. If she crashed that baby would have been killed by the air bag....
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The thing with women breastfeeding while driving is that the child is completely dependent on his mother.
