Kids and Cars: Hidden Summer Dangers
by Yvonne Wright
Every summer, dozens of children overheat and die of hyperthermia– the extreme overheating of the body– in parked cars. While most parents tend to believe that this nightmare could never happen to them, these tragedies continue to occur each year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a locked car sitting in the summer sun quickly turns into an oven, and temperatures can climb from 78 degrees to 100 degrees in just three minutes, and to 125 degrees in 6-8 minutes. Opening windows has almost no effect, because much of the heat radiates off seats and dashboards.
While a number of groups are working toward ways of incorporating automatic reminders into cars (e.g. motion and weight sensors that would detect a child left behind), for the moment there is no substitute for the continued vigilance of parents and caregivers. Following these steps can save the lives of countless children:
Never leave children in a car. This may sounds like second nature but slightly more than half of deaths occurred because parents forgot that children — many of them less than 1 year old — were asleep in the back. About half of those deaths occur when babies are with parents who don’t usually drive them. Those parents appear to slip back into their usual routine, as if on “autopilot,” says Safe Kids USA, an advocacy group. A stressful phone call on the way to work, a different parent taking a child to daycare—any small hiccup in the morning routine might be just enough to allow a normally attentive parent to forget about the child sitting quietly in the back seat.
Although rear-facing car seats have saved countless lives, their hoods can cover babies completely, making them less visible to drivers, and silent especially when that baby is sleeping. Experts suggest drivers place their purses or briefcases in the back seat, next to the car seat, to make sure they don’t forget a sleeping child.
Always lock your car and secure the keys so that your kids can’t get to them and warn your kids about playing in the car by themselves.
Install a trunk release mechanism, so that they can’t get trapped in the trunk
Since temperatures can soar more than 20 degrees in mere minutes, get your children out of the car first, and then worry about getting the groceries, etc., out of the car when you get home.
For more summer safety tips please see Safe Kids USA – In and Around Cars Fact Sheet.