I completely agree that the safety of the dog is critically important. Which is why I tried so hard to get my Zuki, now deceased, to ride with her head inside the car. But, she would get horrifically car sick, and throw up everywhere. The only way to prevent that was to allow her to ride with her head out. Just her head, with the window slightly up to keep her from jumping out. She was a huge dog, 110 lbs and very tall and lean. That was a lot of barf. I finally capitulated, because my car was becoming a barf mobile. Medications alone were just not enough. I also had a lab before Zuki that I would never allow to hang out of the car. She would do everything she could to jump out at oncoming vehicles. It was crazy. She was nuts. Drove me nuts. But, it was about protecting her. So, I responded both ways.

I also tried a doggie seat belt for Zuki, but one day she got so tangled in it (she was a constant motion machine on the back seat, and would never sleep, no matter how long the ride), that I was sure that if I had to stop short, she would have broken her leg. I stopped using the seat belt. I did get one of those hammock things that attach to the front seat headrests, so that she could not fall off the seat. That made a huge difference to her car comfort.

I guess my point is that maybe there are compelling reasons for people to allow their dogs to hang out of moving vehicles. Maybe it's not so easy to just pass judgment and condemn the owner. My dogs had very different personalities, and how I responded was based on that. Sometimes, it's impossible to train car sickness or compulsion out of a dog, and it's the owner's responsibility to do what is necessary to keep that dog safe. For Zuki, it was allowing her to hang her head out the window. It was the only way. For me, it meant that I had to drive slower than my usual driving habits. But, I gotta tell ya, that humongous wolf-like head hanging out of the window sure was an attention getter. :-)