Car Safety For Fido?

aka WayTooFurious

There are a few things that I can’t stand seeing people do while they drive cars. At the top of my list is people who eat and drive at the same time, and coming in at a close second are those who insist on driving around with their dogs in their laps. Almost 20 years ago when I was driving taxis for a living, I had my best fare of the night when I had to take a family to the other side of Melbourne. It turned out that their rather large dog had jumped from the front passenger seat into the back seat, hitting the gearshift on the way and knocking it into neutral. This so spooked the driver that he lost control, rolled up an embankment, and flipped the car. A similar incident occurred in the US just days ago, when a dog waiting in someone’s truck hit the shifter and took it for an inadvertent spin. It seems that pet owners should be treating their animals with greater caution when they’re in the car, and that means using travel kennels, caging off the rear area, or even buckling up! Think about it: for the relatively inexpensive cost of a dog harness, that family could have avoided writing off their nice new Range Rover. Have you seen any strange pet antics recently while on the road?

Permalink:

Posted at 8:45 pm in Cool Products, Dispatch From Down Under, Guest Blogger, Safety

Comments

Randolph Hale
Apr 21, 2008 at 11:13 am

primage stoic witchen expert oogeny irrepressibility ceremonious bewrathed
Scouts Canada, Ottawa 26th & 36th – Glebe Scout Troop
http://www.cmiservos.com

Diana L Guerrero
Mar 5, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Boy, is this a big issue. As a behavior consultant I am always attempting to get people to use their brain when it comes to their pets–safety and health are two big areas where people take too many risks.

Yes, problems of falling out and being pulled over the asphalt happen, but flying debris, projectile pets (through the window), air bag deployment, and some of the previous problems you and your readers mention SHOULD motivate the pet concerned public to take action to protect their pets.

So, why don’t they?

I’ll save my rant for my blog…

Christopher Campbell
Feb 27, 2008 at 6:01 pm

I once saw a guys little dog in the back seat of a VW sedan. The dog had it’s paws on the open windows edge, I was driving behind this guy expecting something to occur. Shure enough the dog fell out at 30mph but here’s the wiered thing, the dog was leashed to the cars head rest dragging the dog for about 3seconds yapping. What a show that was.

retroman
Feb 27, 2008 at 2:35 am

Workin’ Drive-Thru at Micky D’s gives me more than my share of idiot encounters, Like the guy who got out of his truck to pay. The 4yr old girl with him put the thing in drive and started to take off. Then there was the woman who scraped the building and another who let her dog and rat(yes, I did say rat) climb all over. I knew that was trouble. The rat went down her shirt and the dog put the gas pedal to the floor and, yes, the car was in drive for that. Idiots…

Stewart
Feb 27, 2008 at 1:40 am

People who drive with a dog in their lap scare me…
.
And piss me off!
.
Usually, the dog is on their lap, hanging out the driver’s side window.
.
Stupid.
.
I have two words idiots: AIR BAG!

RatsEatChildren
Feb 27, 2008 at 12:21 am

I guess this is more of a parking issue than a driving issue… but I wanna kill those people who leave their dogs in their car when they “run into the store for a minute.” They think cracking the window an inch will keep it from getting to be 100 degrees in there as soon as they shut the car off? Morons !! If you’re going someplace wher eyou cant bring the dog inside, leave it home.