I used to sit on laps, but that was many moons ago when cars (at least the shit heaps we had) didn't have seat belts. My dad also used to bungee cord us onto his motorcycle, and drive us over the narrows bridge. It was my favorite thing ever! Course, mom would almost always have a heart attack...
What a crock. In the meantime, it's fine to have mounted GPS, screens everywhere, Bluetooth fussing, cd swap outs, eating, and smoking. Oh, right. A phone is the worst ... sorry, but i think the no phone thing has more to do with ticketing (money) than safety.