Safari has gotten very big and cute...
I must admit, i cringe everytime i see a picture of a cat loose in a car. By loose i mean not contained in a carrier or attached to a harness and seatbelt. I have commented many times before, Viperkeeper knows my views on it. To me it is one risk i cannot take. My friend used to travel with her dog on the front seat next to her. He just sat there. She had a car accident where some car jumped the lights, she was fine but her dog was not. He went through the windscreen and did not make it. Her other half used to work at a research facility in the UK that looked at traffic accidents and this spurred him on to investigate pet travel. Cats in carriers secured in the car by a car seat are
significantly better off than a cat not secured in the car.
They can also act unpredictably to anything outside the car which may mean they claw you or leap out of your arms etc... which could be a hazard.
In the UK you can be charged with dangerous driving/driving without due care and attention.
Just because everyone does it, does not make it right.
A kitten that is always placed in a carrier will get used to it. I can guarentee that. None of mine mind much. They like to talk to me sometimes but that is it. I leave a carrier out so that it always smells like home and they play in it and sometimes sleep in it. I actually think it's a pretty good idea to get them used to a carrier because there may be occasions you have to use it to take them to the vets etc. In the UK a lot of vets have rules that all cats must be in a carrier, every vets i've used have this rule. There are rarely cat only vets or clinics and so they cannot risk cats not been secure when they have dogs in the waiting rooms (never visited a vets where there has not been a dog present). You may have to take your cat in an emergency on your own and it isn't safe to just pop them on the seat next to you....
It is very difficult when you are taught and learn that doing this is dangerous when you see it happen in other countries. Everywhere has different laws. I have to remind my brother not to use his cell phone whilst driving when he visits (he lives in Dallas) and he reminds me that he can do what he likes with his cell phone when i visit him!!