Why?
Is it simply to announce the fact?
Is it to make other drivers extra careful because of your precious cargo?
Is it in case the car crashes and warns emergency services to hunt around for a baby?
Do you take them down when there's no baby?
Do you put them back up when the baby's on board again?
At what age does the baby cease to need an announcement in the window? 1? 2? 36 months?
Does it have to be rear window, side window, flashing neon light?
Should a sign be packed for display when travelling by train, plane, taxi?
What if you have twins – do you ask for a "Babies on board" sticker? Do they make such a sign? Triplets? Quads? So many decisions
What's it all about? I didn't use any of these signs when my kids were small, so I'm worried that I may have neglected them in some way.
I'm probably lining myself up to be shot down, but I genuinely do not know and never asked.

Is it in case the car crashes and warns emergency services to hunt around for a baby?

no!

its to excuse the sh1te driving while they keep turning round looking at young un.

Its less annoying than:

I actually think some people think that other road users may take extra care. But I think for some there is also an element of "we've got a kid(s)"!

What baffled me was the car yesterday with the "Staffordshire Bull Terriers On Board". Now this is either I think this type of dog is the best OR don't get in to any aggro with me cos I have a "Devil Dog" with me.

Though not as baffling as the (small) 4X4 drivers who have a photo of their dogs on the spare wheel cover on the back.

C'est la vie!

Is it in case the car crashes and warns emergency services to hunt around for a baby?

I think that was the original intention.

Thanks, thegreatape. My wife said she'd heard that. What happens if you crash and forgot to take down the sign. Can you imagine the hunting around and panic? Do the emergency services have instructions to hunt high and low when they come across one of these signs?

My sister has one to remind her not to leave her baby in the car when she gets home.

I thought it meant back off I have a child and don't want my car shunted by a tailgater

LOL @ Deadlydarcy!

If I drove a car, I'd want 'Bastard on board' in a Gene Hunt stylee.

Do the emergency services have instructions to hunt high and low when they come across one of these signs?

again…… no we don't

So what's this about then?

Not just any old moggy, a show cat!! WTF?

No instructions here either, although it's one of the first things you try and find out. But you wouldn't go by those signs, because no one ever takes them out.

My personal favourite is 'Small Person On Board!'

Who is it, Ronnie Corbett?

Scariest one I ever saw was 'Gas, Grass or Ass – Nobody Rides For Free' on a battered Ford F150 in Texas.

They all piss me off, although 'Princess on board' is a clear winner!

FoxyChick – exactly.
What exactly am I supposed to do when I see a "Show cat in transit" sign? Drive up closely, honking my appreciation? Give them the thumbs up as I pass?

'Babe on Board' leads to disappointment practically every time.

Unless they're referring to the pig of course.

the emergency services aren't allowed to leave the site until the baby has been found or accounted for in the event of a crash. (from the mrs ambulance driving father)

Particularly daft on people carriers/MPVs.

Why for what other reason did you buy one?!

Carrying people that aren't babies?

Think the Simpsons covered this one quite well

"Look Homer, I got a baby on board sticker, now people might stop intentionally ramming into us all the time!"

Carrying people that aren't babies?

In that case get a minibus. Show me an MPV containing just adults… you'll struggle.

the emergency services aren't allowed to leave the site until the baby has been found or accounted for in the event of a crash. (from the mrs ambulance driving father)

Surely not?! There's no smiley in this post, but I can't believe this policy actually exists!

Or is this going to be a "Whoosh" reply…

Anyway Snopes have some interesting stuff on "Baby on board" signs: snopes article

I use it as a sign to ram them off the road, everyone should remember that Hitler was a baby once, and we don't want that evil inflicting on the world again. Best to kill them all while they are young, before they have chance to grow up into evil dictators hell bent on world domination.

the emergency services aren't allowed to leave the site until the baby has been found or accounted for in the event of a crash. (from the mrs ambulance driving father)

We tend not to leave until all persons are accounted for. Be they young or old.

Well the taxi driver across the road drives a VW Sharan, and I've only ever seen adults in that.

And if a Ford C-Max is an MPV, my next door neighbour and his wife too.

the emergency services aren't allowed to leave the site until the baby has been found or accounted for in the event of a crash

Surely they'd be strapped in their baby seat which is strapped to the car? Do baby seats actually leave the car through the roof like a projectile during an impact and land in some distant shrubbery only to be stumbled upon decades later buy a guy with a metal detector or an archaeological dig.
What about an elderly passenger? They could be discarded in a similar fashion and unable to raise alarm having been KO'd? So many questions.

Scariest one I ever saw was 'Gas, Grass or Ass – Nobody Rides For Free' on a battered Ford F150 in Texas.

That's a misquoted Poison lyric, I think. "Ass, gas or grass, bayby, living fast. Nobody rides for free" – Valley of Lost Souls.

Well the taxi driver across the road drives a VW Sharan, and I've only ever seen adults in that.

And if a Ford C-Max is an MPV, my next door neighbour and his wife too.

Show me an MPV containing just adults… you'll struggle.

Children are not necessarily "babies".

I had no idea these signs annoyed people……..I now feel a strong urge to get one – "show cat in transit" sounds good.

I have a Baby on board window thing on the wifes car as the wee girl next door bought it for us and came over withit and some other thoughtful wee bits the day after we came home from the hospital

Don't take everything in life so serious

There are more important things going on right now to get wound up about!

"show cat in transit" sounds good.

Especially if it's not a Transit. That'll learn 'em….

You did ask 😀

barrykellett… I reckon it's you who's taking things a tad too seriously. 8)

Not getting worked up about it or taking it seriously – just curious.
Any tailgaters on here own up to immaculate driving on seeing one of these signs? If so, I'm getting one myself (rebel or what?). I was shunted once….actually "I've got a delicate neck and the wife's a lawyer" might be a more effective sign, come to think of it.

I was told that the "Baby on board" signs originated in certain states in USA, and that they were illegal to display unless you did have kids in the car at the time.

I'd like one that says
"Uninsured idiot with long record criminal violence on board"
or
"I <heart> Guns More Than I <heart> People"

As long as Baby's not driving, who cares?

When I die I'm taking as many of you **** with me as possible, when I see those signs in other cars on the motorway I can't repress thoughts of "BONUS POINTS!"

I expect they retail for something silly like 4 quid as well.