Arizona bill would ban kids from truck beds

[The Straight Story]

Arizona bill would ban kids from truck beds

A bipartisan pair of state representatives hope to do what others have tried and failed to do for nearly 20 years: expand a ban on unrestrained minors in the backs of trucks.

Reps. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson, and Doris Goodale, R-Kingman, have co-sponsored a bill that would prohibit anyone under 18 from riding in the back of an open vehicle unless properly restrained.

Current law prevents minors under 15 from riding unrestrained in any vehicle but allows children to ride in pickup truck beds once the seats in the cab are filled.

"It's a major public health and safety concern," Heinz said. "You have to restrain your refrigerator or a deer carcass for example by state law, but you don't have to restrain a 4-year-old."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/27/20110127arizona-bill-bans-kids-in-truck-beds.html#ixzz1CRBp6000

[slackmaster]

1. They should require a child in a truck bed to be secured by two leashes

Just as is required for a dog.

(Note: This is sarcasm. Anyone dumb enough to let a child ride in a truck bed is dumb.)

[glowing]

7. Then my Grandpa was a dumb man..

I rode in the back of a pick-up truck many times. On a farm it doesn't seem so dumb. But I guess those are just the things rural folks with farms have to do.. The whole family has to work and barely peanuts is brought in.

On Edit: by the way, I was lifted onto horses before I could walk.. By the time I was 4, I was riding on a pony. By 7 or 8, I was galloping over fields much faster than I would ever be driven in the back bed of a pick-up.

On the other hand, I don't believe anyone should be driven in the back of a truck going over 35 and under the age of 16 on any roads... Those going down the highway in the back of a bed at 70mph, have a death wish IMO.

[slackmaster]

27. On the farm at low speed, it's perfectly safe and perfectly OK

On the freeway in Phoenix, not so much.

[cynatnite]

30. Only if you're puttering along at 10mph, on a smooth surface, and make no sudden stops...

It's fairly safe then...and how often do these conditions occur on a farm?

[uncle ray]

31. riding in the back of a truck is about the safest thing a kid can do on a farm.

[cynatnite]

33. No, it's not...

I fell out of a pickup three times while tossing hay out of the back. One time I bloodied the hell out of my nose and lost a lot of skin off my arm. All of them were because the field wasn't the smooth surface of a paved road. My uncle and my dad both were going pretty damn slow, too.

This chore isn't likely to go away even with this law. Accidents do happen, but we should do better in preventing them.

[glowing]

40. farming is one of those livlihoods that can result in accidents...

I'd say worse than riding on the back of a hay truck is riding on the "tire" of the tractor. But its done all the time.

[glowing]

38. A lot.. When haying, I had to sit ontop of the bails too.. even higher off the ground

than a traditional pick-up.. going over bumpy fields and yes onto the road up to the farm storage area.. of course slowly.

[cynatnite]

2. Good. n/t

[old mark]

3. Should apply to dogs, too....nt

[elocs]

6. I think of that when I see a dog loose in the back of a pickup.

What happens to the dog if there is an accident? Nothing good for the dog.

People stupid enough to put their dogs in the back of a pickup should not be allowed to own animals anyways.

[cynatnite]

17. Totally agree. n/t

[IDemo]

25. My girl agrees

Can't tell it too well from the pic, but she's strapped in-

[postulater]

4. I usually just strap them onto the roof of the cab.

They make the trip easy.

Stop for water and pee break every few hours.

I keep the truck bed for the wife.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. We had a neighbor when my kids were growing up

who put as many kids as he could pack into the bed of his truck and raced off down the street. And I shook every time I saw him doing this.

[cynatnite]

8. Same here, but it wasn't until I was working in an ER and a teenager was brought in...

He had been in the back of a pickup when it went over some railroad tracks. He had serious road burns and numerous other injuries. Fortunately, no head injury and he recovered.

This was years ago when my children were little, and after that they never got in the back of a pickup.

[wellstone dem]

15. A good friend of a co-worker

had a child die after being tossed from a pick up truck doing 30 which hit an unexpected bump. Head injuries, followed by death. 10 year old little girl. Very sad.

[Kali]

9. are they going to fund rural public transportation?

or just give people minivans?


this is another annual attempt to pass a feel-good law that has no real solution to the "problem" they are claiming to address

[cynatnite]

13. I've seen what happens to an unrestrained kid who falls out of the back of a moving pickup...

It was pretty damn ugly.

I'm having a hard time being upset by this.

[Kali]

18. They try this ever year or so.

even if it passed I doubt it would stop much in rural areas or the reservations, for example

I don't have a problem with it per se, I just know how it will fall out - puts all the burden on people who can't really afford to solve the problem the do-gooders are trying to address. Might save the lives of some rich white urban kids out joyriding, though.

[cynatnite]

19. I'd be happy if it saved ONE life...

The whole argument that "it won't stop it in rural areas" is weird. They'll do it anyway, so why make the effort. Right?

People will break laws anyway...so why have them? It's an odd argument to make, IMO.

Laws can't address every thing such as minivans for everyone with more than three kids, but if one of those kids lives can be saved...I fully support it.

[Kali]

22. like I said

I don't have a problem with it, I just think wasting time on feel-good legislation that burdens poor people more than the better-off is kind of stupid considering the real problems we face in this state. Hey maybe the tickets issued to families that has no other form of transportation will generate enough revenue to solve the budget problems!

[cynatnite]

23. How is it a waste of time if it saves a life? n/t

[Kali]

28. it's a wast of time because it probably won't pass

they do this every year or so

[MicaelS]

32. "People will break laws anyway...so why have them"

Is not an odd argument to make. When passing a law, legislators should take into account how many people will obey the law, otherwise it's just another bullshit feel-good "we HAVE to do something" law.

Unless of course your REAL goal is to make everyone a criminal, so you can keep them afraid of TPTB.

And how are all those laws prohibiting the possession, use and distribution of marijuana working? Those were passed with the same sort of "If it can save one life, it's worth it" rhetoric.

[cynatnite]

34. Let's take a poll...how many people will keep letting their unrestrained children...

ride in the back of the pickup if we outlaw it?

If it's less than 20, we'll forget it.

Sorry, that just doesn't fly.

[CreekDog]

39. no, they are just trying to make Arizona a bit less backwards on this

when i lived there, they were trying to pass this (and ban cockfighting :eyes: ).

you may be rural but you don't get special permission to endanger your kids.

[Earth_First]

10. How about adults who have the decision-making skills of children?

Perhaps that would keep truckloads of minutemen from entering the desert in support of 'border protection'?

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cynatnite]

12. You don't think that forbidding children from riding in the back of pickups is a bad idea? n/t

[blondeatlast]

26. Edit: you weren't replying to me; sorry, need caffeine! nt

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[blondeatlast]

16. Some nanny-state. Concealed carry, no motorcycle helmets,

and one of the highest auto insurance rates in the country.

[Maru Kitteh]

42. You're still here, huh? So you think it's ok to make little girls who were raped bear babies

AND you're against protecting kids from stupid people who just plop them in the back o the ol' pickemup truck like gardening supplies and beer cans.

So very interesting.

[Brother Buzz]

48. It certainly is OK as long as you carry a gun AND a camera

:crazy:

[Maru Kitteh]

50. Of course. Because you need to eat and NOBODY ever made a living with a camera!

[greendog]

20. I usually let my 4 year old ride in the back of my F-150 with our 11 pit bulls...

...and a duffle bag full of loaded handguns. It gets pretty noisy back there with junior putting bullet holes through all the road signs (and the occasional Prius) and all the dogs barking, jumping and running around.

Would you want a ruckus like that in the front of your pick-up? C'mon, let's be realistic.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cynatnite]

24. How is this discrimination?

This is about kids being in the back of a pickup truck unrestrained. One bump and a ten year old can fall out of a pickup going down a road. It's a law for a child to be buckled up inside a vehicle. They won't be catapulted through a windshield.

[Ilsa]

29. This was done in Texas long ago and it has saved so many lives.

A driver doesn't have to have an accident with another vehicle for there to be an injury. Kids will lean out, get hit, fall out, etc even under slowest speeds, sudden stops, etc.

[Kievan Rus]

35. More nanny state nonsense

[seabeyond]

36. back in my time, we all rode in the back. we loved it.

nah, wasnt safe, though i dont know anyone who was hurt. ack in the time where we did the stupid, and had a blast doing the stupid and made it through.

[fishwax]

37. I always loved riding in the back as a kid

:kick:

[johnroshan]

41. how about just educating them about the dangers of unrestrained travel.....

Stop trying to pass laws for every single freaking thing. Nanny state is so out of fashion.

John.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Wonders never cease and hell froze over

that is actually a good piece of legislation... I got tired of picking up the remains of kids flying in crashes.

[Codeine]

44. I spent years riding around in the back of a pickup,

even at freeway speeds. That said, I really can't imagine people doing that today. It's kind of like driving with no seatbelts and smoking in the house -- just not done by wise folks these days.

I'm surprised it's still legal.

[Taitertots]

45. This falls under the category of stupid things to do that probably shouldn't be restricted

"It's a major public health and safety concern," Heinz said.
The article is showing that roughly 50 people die a year as a result of riding in the back of trucks. There is no major public health or safety concern.
"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records about 50 deaths yearly involving passengers in the bed of a pickup truck,"

This is the perfect example of things that are stupid and dangerous, but should remain unrestricted because it isn't creating a public health or safety problem.

[Nye Bevan]

46. 50 deaths per year and you think it should be legal?

And how many horrible, possibly paralyzing injuries each year?

Some of the replies in this thread are...... surprising.

[Fumesucker]

47. Tylenol causes roughly 450 deaths per year..

And yet anyone can go into the store and buy as much as they want..

That's nine times the death rate from riding in the back of pickups and yet no one is writing laws to stop this scourge.

[Nye Bevan]

49. Only if you overdose. Uses properly, Tylenol has tremendous benefits.

Unlike allowing kids to ride unrestrained in a truck bed.

[Taitertots]

51. More people die falling down, should we ban standing up?

Over 18,000 a year according to the CDC.

[Nye Bevan]

52. Like taking Tylenol, standing up can have tremendous benefits.

Unlike allowing kids to ride unrestrained in a truck bed.

[Taitertots]

53. Getting from one place to another is certainly beneficial n/t

[madinmaryland]

54. Sounds like a good law to me.