In an earlier post when I complained about ejected babies crashing into vehicles driven by unsuspecting motorists on the freeway, I mentioned my own "near miss" with a baby in plastic pants crawling on a public street in Berkeley.

This upset me so much that I never forgot it, but still, I always comforted myself with the knowledge that the incident was unusual, if not bizarre. The story about the flying babies on the Ohio Turnpike made me wonder whether it was, though.

So did a story Drudge linked today, about another baby unsupervised and at large on a Ohio road. Fortunately, it was rescued before someone ran over it:

SOUTH EUCLID -- A 14-month-old boy wandered from his house Friday and was found crawling in the middle of a busy street by a passing driver.

"Thank God nothing happened and that people stopped," police Lt. Jeff Meyers said.

The child was crawling in the middle of Bayard Avenue near Warrensville Center Road about 8:45 a.m. The youngster was wearing only a diaper and a green onesie, witnesses said.

Rachel Downey of South Euclid was on her way to work when she approached the intersection and couldn't believe what she saw. She slammed on her brakes and jumped out of the car to prevent other cars from passing her and hitting the toddler.

"He was smack in the middle of the street," Downey said. "I grabbed him and looked for adults."

Nobody was outside, but Downey headed toward a house with an open front door. A 9-year-old girl then ran outside yelling for the toddler. Downey asked to speak with the girl's mother, but the child grabbed her brother and ran inside screaming.

The toddler was crawling and Downey said she probably would have hit him but the moving baby caught her eye. Downey's 5-year-old son was in the car with her.

"It's pretty awful," Downey said. "I'm still in shock. It's very upsetting."

The child's mother could not be reached for comment.

I hope this isn't becoming a trend, because every time I read one of these stories, I feel that my right to assume that other people will obey the law is being undermined.

I don't want to sound like a crank, but signs like this would really take a lot of the fun out of driving.

Hey, don't laugh. (If we could save just one baby, wouldn't the signs be worth it?)

And people could demonstrate their concern with bumperstickers.