With record-breaking heat waves happening across the country this summer, it’s a good time for a reminder to not leave kids or animals in locked cars.
According to the organization Kids and Car Safety, there have been 10 heat-related car deaths so far this year, with several more deaths being investigated.
One of the most recent deaths happened in Marana, Arizona, where local authorities said a father is being charged with second-degree murder for the death of his 2-year-old after she was found dead in the back seat of her family car during a heat wave.
It’s a tragedy that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said happens around 40 times a year to children.
“Unfortunately in this week, coming off the holiday, we have seen quite a few tragedies,” said Amber Rollins, director of Kids and Car Safety. “And that’s one of the biggest factors for children being unknowingly left behind in vehicles is that change in routine.”
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Federal officials said that about 46% of the time, it’s a situation in which a child is forgotten, and often on the way to day care or preschool.
The Traffic Safety Administration said even when the temperatures are just in the mid-60s, it can quickly get above 110 degrees inside a closed vehicle. It can take as little as 10 minutes, according to the National Weather Service, for a child to die.
“With the temperatures being so high recently we are very concerned that going forward into these next two months that we’re going to see a lot of children losing their lives and it doesn’t have to be that way,” Rollins said.
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While not forgetting your child or leaving your child inside as you run quick errands are the obvious best prevention measures, there is technology aimed at preventing such disasters.
There are resources like rear occupant alert systems that use motion detectors to set off horns and lights, and send text messages to the driver.
Volvo says it is developing a radar system inside the interior roof line that can detect what it says are “the tiniest movements at sub-millimeter scale.”
“Three years ago, in 2021 we were successful in passing a federal regulation,” Rollins said. “That regulation is going to require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a safety standard or a regulation for the auto industry on including hot car technology in all vehicles going forward, all new vehicles.”
Major automakers have promised to add back seat reminders to all models by 2025.