Hot Weather Warning: Prevent Tragedy, Don't Leave Babies In the Car

The National Weather Service is predicting 90 degree weather this week in Golden Valley.

Starting with a high near 93 on Tuesday, the high temperatures could be sticking around at least until Thursday, increasing each day.

Hotter weather means being careful when it comes to babies and young children in the hot car.

During the July 4th weekend, two babies died in separate incidents in Virginia and Maryland. In both cases, police said, a relative forgot the babies in a car with outside temperatures hovering around 90 degrees.

Unfortunately, such cases are not rare.

The most recent Minnesota case occurred last month in Moorhead when a father reportedly forgot his 5-month-old daughter in a minivan for several hours. The little girl was pronounced dead at the scene, and the father has been charged with manslaughter.

The Maryland case last Friday, in Lansdowne, just south of Baltimore, involved a 16-month-old girl who was mistakenly left in a car for four hours by a relative. Police say the relative forgot to drop her off at day care before he took a nap. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at an area hospital.

How often does this happen?

According to KidsandCars.org, babies die in hot cars about 38 times per year across the United States. The recent deaths in Minnesota, Virginia and Maryland bring the total to 18 so far in 2013. The highest number of heat-related vehicle deaths in the United States occurred in 2010—one of the hottest summers on record in the United States.

In 2009, Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning story attempting to answer how parents can forget their own children in cars.

“What kind of person forgets a baby?” Weingarten asked. “The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. … A Protestant clergyman. … An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.”

When outside temperatures are in the 60s, the temperature inside a parked car can rise to more than 110 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Temperatures can rise 20 degrees in just 10 minutes inside a car.

“Even with a window rolled down 2 inches, if the outside temperature is in the low 80 degrees Fahrenheit, thetemperature inside a vehicle can reach deadly levels in only 10 minutes,” the NHTSA reports. Further, children’s bodies do not regulate heat as well as adults. “In fact, when left in a hot vehicle, a young child's body temperature may increase three to five times as fast an adult. High body temperatures can cause permanent injury or even death.”

How Not to Forget: Reminders and Tips

This tragic mistake can happen to even the best, most conscientious parents and guardians. Here are some tips that may help from KidsandCars.org:

• Put your purse, briefcase or whatever you must take out of the car with you next to the child—not in the front seat with you.
• Situate a mirror in the back seat so you can see children easily who are still small enough to be in rear-facing child seats.
• “Look Before You Lock”—Make it a habit to open the back door and look inside every single time you get out of your car, even if you think you’re sure you don’t have a child with you.
• Put a large stuffed animal in the child’s car seat when it’s not occupied, and move the stuffed animal to the front seat when the child is in the car seat. The stuffed animal will serve as a visual reminder in the front seat with you.
• Make sure your child’s day-care center or babysitter calls you if your child does not show up as scheduled.

Technology Solutions

At least two manufacturers (Suddenly Safe 'N' Secure Systems, Inc. and Baby Alert International) make “car seat alarms” that are designed to remind parents when they turn off the car that their child is in the car seat. The systems work by having a weight sensor on the car seat and a device on the parent’s keychain, according to CBN News. However, no technology solution is absolutely infallible and any efforts to remind parents about the presence of a sleeping child in the car should be combined with some of the reminders and tips above. 

(Some information written and originally posted by Jay Corn.)