International Law

Beijing Thinks ?Baby on Board? Is Good Idea

By Stan

This is old news that was stuck in my drafts folder when my PC committed suicide - no reason to waste a serviceable post.

Felt slightly ill when I saw this:

Beijing on Tuesday started handing out buttons reading "to-be mum" to pregnant women in hope they would be protected in public places.

The move was initiated by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, Beijing Women’s Federation and China Women’s News.

It was the first time Beijing had officially handed out baby-on-board badges. Five maternity clinics in the Haidian, Chaoyang, Huairou, Tongzhou and Daxing districts handed out free badges to women in the early stages of pregnancy.

The "Baby On Board" craze in the U.S., which involved putting stupid signs on car windows, was one of the most annoying things I have ever had to endure, including disco. The idea is that if someone knows that your baby is in the car with you, they will avoid driving recklessly. Needless to say, there are many problems with this: do reckless drivers give a crap about your baby? if the reckless driver is that close to your car, maybe it’s too late to stop the inevitable smash-up? does this promote reckless driving around cars that do not display such signs? (I could go on . . .)

This is a sad state of affairs. I may have to move to Shanghai.

Full post as published by China Hearsay on July 07, 2008 (boomark / email).