If you have been driving long, you have likely sat behind numerous drivers displaying stickers that announce who they have on board.
Whether it’s “Careful. Baby on board”, “Careful. Precious cargo on board,” or a giant paw print with “Dog on board” is irrelevant. In both cases, the driver is telling you to take special care.
You might find those stickers annoying. As a careful driver, you take care around every vehicle. Yet there is a good reason to give those vehicles a little extra distance, and it’s not what drivers displaying them might think.
Children and dogs are distracting
It’s not you that is likely to cause a crash and injure the kids or dogs. It’s the driver transporting them.
Babies can cry or scream for many reasons. Ignoring them is next to impossible. The only safe option for the parent is to find a safe place to pull over. Yet many carry on, thinking they will soon be at their destination. Or they try to calm the baby while still driving.
Children are also skilled at distracting adult drivers. They too can shout and cry, but they can also talk non-stop, fight with the child next to them, remove their seat belt and do many other things that the driver cannot ignore.
Dogs are perhaps less manipulative, but they love to move about, bark at cats or stick their head out of the window to catch the breeze. Their movements and sounds can again be hard to ignore.
A driver distracted by their child or pet cannot give the road their full attention. If you are injured in a crash with a sticker-carrying driver, bearing this in mind may help you get the compensation you need.