No, you don't do that. You would never take that risk with the lives of loved ones.
It amazes me to think of all the years I'd driven without having my pets properly secured in the vehicle. ...Whoa!... Did you just roll your eyes at me? I hope not. Think about it. Fully aware of the range of injuries that can be sustained in an auto accident, you buckle yourself in because you simply don't know if or when you might be involved in an accident. You obviously care about your pet or he wouldn't be going on car rides/road trips/ vacations with you to begin with, so why wouldn't you want to make sure that, should there be an unfortunate accident, your pet has the best possible chance of coming out unscathed? Sure, my dog would love to be able to continue to roam around the back of our SUV and stick her head out of the window freely and I'd love for her to do that too, it's freakin' adorable, but I'd rather know that we'll all get to our destination safely where she can then do a whole bunch of other things that she enjoys that I will most likely also find freakin' adorable.
