By Selina R. Vert
Editor
How many people would intentionally turn on their oven and lock their child or dog inside? Not many. But every year, many young children and pets die because parents knowingly leave them unattended in oven-like vehicles on hot days.
According to the advocacy group Kids 'n Cars, 82 children — most of them 3 and younger — have suffered heat-related deaths in vehicles in the past decade. Five-month-old twin sisters from Missouri died after being left in a parked car while their grandmother helped a friend with a garage sale. A 9-month-old Virginia boy died after his father left him in the back seat, forgetting to drop him off at day care. Other children have been injured because they crawled into a vehicle themselves and could not get out.
“Children should never be left unattended in hot, parked cars — not even for a second,” said Bill Kemp, GM Executive Director, Safety Communication Strategy.
Many parents, unaware that temperatures can rise dramatically in a very short period of time, don't realize what a dangerous place a hot car can be. A child's core body temperature is more volatile than an adults. What feels hot to an adult could be mortally dangerous to a young child because their body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's.
Oftentimes parents leave their children in the car while they run a quick errand. A few minutes is enough to turn the car into an oven and overheat a child even in an area like this, where temperatures don't get overly hot. Remember, just because it's cool and breezy outside doesn't mean your child is safe in an enclosed car. Direct sunlight on a vehicle can heat it just as effectively no matter what the outside temperature is. Even keeping the windows rolled down isn't enough to dispel the heat.
According to a recent release from the Department of Health and Human Services, the air temperature inside a car can rise above 120°F in less than 10 minutes on a hot or humid day.
General Motors and the National Safe Kids Campaign have developed an educational booklet called “Never Leave Your Child Alone - What you need to know to keep your kids safe around cars in warm weather.” The booklet offers the following tips for keeping your children safe:
— Teach children not to play in, on or around cars.
— Never leave a child unattended in a motor vehicle, even with a window slightly open. This applies to pets as well. On a typically sunny, summer day, the temperature inside a vehicle can reach potentially deadly levels within minutes.
— Always lock car doors and trunks — even at home — and keep keys out of children's reach.
— Watch children closely around cars, particularly when loading or unloading. Check to ensure that all children leave the vehicle when you reach your destination. Don't overlook sleeping infants.
— When restraining children in a car that has been parked in the heat, check to make sure seating surfaces and equipment (car seat and seat belt buckles) aren't overly hot.
The number of children who have died as a result of heat-stroke in a parked vehicle has motivated General Motors to develop a radar-sensor safety device. It picks up breathing and motion from children and pets and emits a distress signal if the air temperature climbs to dangerous levels. It may someday become standard in all GM vehicles, but is currently in the early stages of development. GM also stressed that parents and caregivers shouldn't leave children and pets in cars alone and that they shouldn't rely on a sounding device for safety.
For more information on GM's safety device or to download a copy of the “Never Leave Your Child Alone” booklet, got to www.gmability.com or www.safekids.org.
If you see a child left alone in a car on a hot day, immediately get the child out of the car and notify the proper authorities. The child should be monitored for signs of heatstroke, which include headache, dizziness, muscle weakness or cramps and nausea and vomiting. If the child has hot, dry skin; confusion or loss of consciousness; frequent vomiting; shortness of breath or trouble breathing, get medical help right away.
If you see a dog or other pet left alone in a hot car, locate the owner as soon as possible or contact the proper authorities to let the animal out of the car. Bring the animal to a shaded spot and cool them down gradually. If the dog is panting heavily, breathing rapidly, staggering or showing signs of weakness, take the distressed animal to a veterinarian immediately.
