Your Baby on Board Sign Could Waste the Emergency Service’s Time
The sign used to promote courtesy towards drivers with young passengers could waste the emergency services time if displayed when […]
The sign used to promote courtesy towards drivers with young passengers could waste the emergency services time if displayed when no young ones are on board.
Steve and Sara Emy / CC by
Created in 1984, the ‘Baby on Board’ sign has offered a small amount of protection to millions of drivers with babies since its inception into popular culture. Many derivatives have been made, puns been created and The Simpsons even wrote a catchy song about the clever display.
Though the sign does a lot to prevent accidents happening, the sign could actually waste emergency services time if it is displayed when there are no young children in the vehicle. If a road accident occurs, the emergency services or first responders will actually use the signs as important indicators that a child or baby are on board.
Life and Death Situation
It might sound like a very unimportant factor in the wake of a serious road accident, but it could genuinely become a life or death situation. Jamie Shuttleworth, a Paramedic, told people, “If you don’t want to waste our time, take them out when not traveling with a baby.”
Kristina D.C. Hoeppner / CC by
Mr. Shuttleworth recalled a time when an ambulance responded to a devastating road accident where a car was torn down the middle. The emergency services searched for 20 minutes in hedges and the nearby fields for a baby that didn’t exist because they found baby toys and, you guessed it, a ‘Baby on Board’ sticker in the window.
Explaining his frustration further, Mr. Shuttleworth told the press “Obviously, if you’re conscious it’s not a problem because we can just ask, but if it’s bad then we have to presume the worst.”
Wastes Valuable Resources
As well as putting lives at risk, misused baby signs can even waste valuable emergency resources and public money, as specialised vehicles may have to be called out to look for a young child that simply isn’t there.
“If it’s at night they have to get the police helicopter out to look for heat signatures.”
Openhouse and the emergency services urge all drivers with the signs to make the effort to only use them when a young child is in the vehicle, and stop misleading the emergency services. Removing a ‘Baby on Board’ sign could save time, money and most importantly lives.
