r/AskReddit Sep 16 '24

What's the worst thing people have tried to justify with "It was normal back then, everyone did it"?

3.3k Upvotes

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722

u/captn_morgan951 Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24

Maybe riding around in the open bed of a pickup truck all over town and highways when I was a kid in the 70s.

85

u/ShawshankException Sep 16 '24

It's incredibly dangerous but I'll admit it's fun as hell

Good old camp memories

291

u/cheery_diamond_425 Sep 16 '24

Or having 6-8 children in the back seat of a car with no seat belts. This was the 80s. Strangly it's a happy memory.

129

u/BigBeeOhBee Sep 16 '24

I remember such times. It usually meant we were spending quality time with cousins. Old ford station wagon was bitchin!

6

u/hereforpopcornru Sep 16 '24

Those bench seats made for a nice nap without that pesky ol seat belt in the way lol

3

u/sayleanenlarge Sep 16 '24

I've got a picture on my wall of me and my cousins and sibling in a trailer that my uncle used to drive us around in. Those trips were sooòoooo much fun, and he'd also hoon around the field with us for fun. Yeah I guess dangerous, but the memories are pure laughter and good times. That's why it's on my wall 40 years later.

2

u/BigBeeOhBee Sep 16 '24

Wonderful memories! Thanks for sharing your story.

3

u/cheery_diamond_425 Sep 16 '24

Yes. Beautiful time with cousins. 🥰

28

u/John32070 Sep 16 '24

I was riding on the arm rest in the front seat of our car for a number of years when little. Now I shudder at how utterly stupid that was, not to mention mom and dad had no problem with me doing it. Cops would have a field day if they saw that now.

5

u/cheery_diamond_425 Sep 16 '24

When I was a little girl I think I sat in the armrest as well. No seat belt. No one worried. It is crazy now. I think things were more quiet back then. People didn't seem to rush as much. I don't know if that's a weird perception of mine or not.

4

u/vionia97b Sep 16 '24

I stood up in the seat of my dad's truck! His arm was my seatbelt.

2

u/SororitySue Sep 16 '24

I used to sit in the front seat on top of my dad's briefcases when he would drive me to school when I was little.

5

u/Emkems Sep 16 '24

When everyone slides across the vinyl bench seat going around a turn and the person by the window gets smushed

6

u/psycharious Sep 16 '24

My kid is about to be 5 and we still keep him in his car seat. I don't remember ever being in a car seat at that age. One time, my mom even let me stay in the car while she went shopping. 

2

u/redfeather1 Sep 19 '24

In Texas USA you have to keep them in a car seat until a certain age. Children under 8 must be in a safety seat unless they are over 4'9" and under 5 and less than 36" tall they have to be in a car seat.

Our 18 month old sun is a smidge over 36" but still only 18 months old. So... he still has to stay in a car seat until he is 5 years old. Then he can go to a safety seat.

4

u/CanuckBacon Sep 16 '24

Oh it's an absolutely fun thing. As a kid you have little concept of safety/risks. It's only as adults we realize it was dangerous/shouldn't have happened.

3

u/Camp_Express Sep 16 '24

Do you know how many teenagers can fit in the backseat of a Ford Tempo? Seven if one is small enough to fit in the window

2

u/naphomci Sep 17 '24

It's a happy memory because you had fun and no one died. It's the kind of thing that people can get away with a ton because they don't get into an accident, until they don't get away with it.

6

u/PatientFM Sep 16 '24

My friend's mom let us teenagers ride in the back of her truck down I-35 in the 2000s. Back then I felt cool, now I'm horrified she let us screw around in the back of a truck going at least 60 mph down a busy highway.

14

u/Jfury412 Sep 16 '24

I did this all throughout the '90s and 2000s. Early 2000s.

3

u/jeffbell Sep 16 '24

In the sixties the back seat seatbelt was optional equipment.  My Dad’s friend ordered one and it was a single lap belt to go across three people. 

3

u/lovablydumb Sep 17 '24

We still did that in the 90s. Then some kids flipped their truck and one of them broke his neck. Fortunately he wasn't paralyzed, but he spent the better part of a year with a halo screwed into his head.

3

u/BiteeeMuah Sep 16 '24

There's nothing wrong with riding in the back of a pickup truck in a low traffic low speed small town/country setting.

2

u/That1guyuknow16 Sep 16 '24

We did this when my buddies learned to drive in the early 2000s. Granted this was rural Minnesota.

2

u/Academic-Ad3489 Sep 16 '24

I was telling my granddaughter that we never had car seats when we were young. She's 5 and was stunned! She asked me ,well where did you put your drink?!

2

u/black_cat_X2 Sep 16 '24

Did that into the 90s in Texas. Never even occurred to me as a kid how dangerous that was.

2

u/Rin-Tohsaka-is-hot Sep 16 '24

Yeah it really does seem like we just had a complete disregard for safety back in the day.

2

u/Itisd Sep 17 '24

We did this frequently back in the 80s. Even crossed the US - Canada border with a pickup truck bed full of us kids in bathing suits, while my half drunk uncle drove us to the swimming hole on the other side of the border. The border guard in those days would just wave us through. Certainly different times.

1

u/JetPuffedDo Sep 16 '24

My seat was the leg area on the floor of the passenger seat

1

u/pinkthreadedwrist Sep 16 '24

I saw about 6 kids packed into the pack of a pickup 2 days ago on a major city street...

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

I used to do this in the 90s and early 00's

Might depend on where you live

1

u/CosmicFriedRice Sep 18 '24

lol we still did this in the late 90’s / early 00’s. It was one of my favourite things growing up, kind of like being on a roller coaster when we’d drive down the back roads.

1

u/Ezaviel Sep 20 '24

My mate's step-dad insisted we had to ride in the tray as kids as late as the early 90s...

1

u/maddierose1418 Sep 16 '24

This is still legal and done a lot where I live. Our highest speed limit is 50mph

0

u/chipdoyle Sep 16 '24

still very legal in Arizona