So far this year, eight kids across the country have died because their parents inadvertently left them in hot cars – including the 18-month-old daughter of a Florida fourth grade teacher who left her in the school parking lot after forgetting to bring her to day care, and the toddler daughter of a prosecutor and assistant public defender in that same state. In addition, a 7-month-old baby in Iowa died last month in a minivan after her hospital CEO mother accidentally left her there while attending meetings.
Often, these children are left due to a change of schedule or parents having a lot on their mind. In the case of the teacher, her father usually dropped her off at day care.
Local officials and doctors are trying to get the word out that leaving your child or pet in a car even for a few minutes is a bad idea, and children have also died when climbing into unlocked cars or trunks to hide. Also, in some cases, parents have left children in cars with the motor running, leaving the children to be overwhelmed by carbon dioxide fumes.
A website called kidsandcars.org actually has photos and stories of the kids who have died from overheating.
Each year, approximately 35 children across the country die of heatstroke after being left in a vehicle. More than six hundred children have died that way since 1998.
Last year, the deaths got so much publicity that police sprang into action when someone saw what looked like a child left in a car seat in Hoboken. Once emergency service workers smashed the window, they realized it was a life-sized doll. The Hoboken Reporter broke the story, which got national media coverage.
Cracking a window doesn’t always help
Cracking open a window open has little effect, according to Dr. Stephen Marcus. And he should know. Marcus is the medical director and executive director of the Newark campus of the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences for the New Jersey Medical School.
Marcus said that babies or young infants have a surface area greater than that of an adult. Therefore, the surface of their body overheats quickly.
“The adult may not even realize how hot it is, and that they shouldn’t leave a baby in that danger.”
Statistics show that the younger the child, the greater the risk.
In one national study from 1998 to last year, children who died from vehicular heatstroke ranged in age from five days to 14 years. But the highest percentage of deaths were those from birth to just under a year old.
“Hot weather kills. Don’t leave your child or pet in the car.” – Dr. Tucker Woods
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“People think, ‘I’m only going to the bank for a minute or to pick up shirts from the dry cleaner,’” Woods said. “But what if there’s a line?”
An 85-degree temperature inside a car only needs 10 minutes to rise to 102 degrees – enough to kill a child or pet.
Woods said the media have done a good job educating the public about the problem.
The case of a Georgia man, Justin Ross Harris, made national headlines last summer when he left his 22-month-old son, Cooper, in his sport utility vehicle for seven hours after apparently forgetting to drop him off at day care. Ross was later arrested, and pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and second-degree child cruelty. Police alleged that he had researched child death in vehicles, and how to live a “child free” life. Harris was indicted on murder charges and may go to trial next year.
Education, laws and gadgets
For some who leave children alone in vehicles even by accident, there are legal penalties.
Leaving a child under seven years old when the engine is running or when it is unsafe to do so is a crime in Nevada and Tennessee. In California, it is a traffic violation if a child six years old or younger is left in unsafe conditions in a car.
Florida has a 15-minute limit on leaving a young child in a vehicle.
The issue has even been the impetus behind a new life-saving device.
Richmond, Va.-based Ebit Creative has invented Lollipop Precious Cargo, a device that you synchronize with your smart phone via Bluetooth technology. After attaching Lollipop to a baby, the parent sets a distance at which an alarm will go off once he or she has strayed too far from the child.
Not good for animals either
What is bad for small children is also bad for pets.
Secaucus Councilwoman Susan Pirro said that each year her town raises the awareness of not leaving pets in cars. They print signs and post them in commercial areas, especially in the parking lots of Secaucus’s several malls. They also try to educate those staying at the town’s 15 hotels.
“We put reminders in those kinds of areas,” she said.
Pirro is the liaison to both her town’s Health Department and animal shelter.
She said that there was an instance two months ago where out of towners staying in Secaucus left two dogs in crates in the back of their pickup truck. Police towed the vehicle and took the dogs to the shelter, and summonses were written.
“We will prosecute to the full extent of the law,” Pirro said. “It’s really not the safe thing to do.”
Even at the Secaucus Animal Shelter, Pirro and others drill it in to new volunteers and potential adoptees that they should not leave pets in vehicles.
“If it’s too hot for a human, then it’s too hot for a pet,” she said.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.