Image via Kidsafe Australia
Let me be clear from the start. Any of us could, given the right combination of unfortunate circumstances forget a child unattended in a hot car. The reason – the human brain, and memory is fallible. Last week, about an hours drive from our home in Victoria, in circumstances that are yet to be made completely public a mother discovered her toddler son deceased in his car seat after she arrived at his daycare to pick him up. He had allegedly been left in the hot car for most of the day.
I couldn’t sleep the night after I heard the news, because of profound grief for this family that I don’t know, and because of anxiety that one day it could happen to us. That one of us would forget our baby in a hot car is my greatest fear.
Between the 1st of September 2013 and 31st August 2014 Ambulance Victoria paramedics rescued 1165 children who had been left unattended in cars. On average 38 children die annually in the United States after being left in hot cars. Leaving a child unattended in a hot car can have devastating consequences because the temperature inside a car quickly escalates above the outside temperature. If the temperature outside is 25°C the temperature inside the vehicle can quickly climb to 45-55°C. Young children just can’t regulate their temperatures as well as adults putting them at risk of rapidly developing heatstroke.
I have heard parents discuss this issue with many expressing disbelief that a good parent could ever do such a thing. For those of you that share their disbelief I direct you to Gene Weingarten’s Pulitzer Prize winning article that appeared in the Washington Post . In it he writes:
What kind of person forgets a baby?
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. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. 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.
While we have all heard horror stories of children being left in hot cars while their parents gambled on the pokies most incidents do not occur in sinister situations. Issues such as sleep deprivation (good grief I know about that one!) change in routine and stress contribute to parents forgetting their kids in cars. Ultimately it is about how our brain and memory functions, memory glitches happen and there is so much more to it than just individual parental responsibility.
USA based organization Kids and Cars has suggested the acronym BE SAFE to help parents prevent making this tragic mistake:
Back seat: Put something in the back seat whenever you strap a child in, so you have to open the back door, or at least turn around to find that item, when you get out of the car. Your handbag or briefcase, cellphone or employee badge.
Every child should be correctly restrained in the back seat.
Stuffed animal: Keep a brightly colored one in the car seat when your child isn’t there. Then move it from the car seat to the front seat after you strap your child in, to remind you when your baby is in the back seat.
Ask your baby sitter or child-care provider to call you within 10 minutes if your child hasn’t arrived on time.
Focus on driving: Avoid cellphone calls and text-messaging while driving.
Every time you park your vehicle — every single time — open the back door to make sure no one has been left behind.
Kidsafe Australia is undertaking a “Do Not Leave Children in Cars” campaign which includes placing signs reminding parents not to make this error at businesses and centres.
I have added another preventive tool to my repertoire, downloading the app “Remember the Kids” to my iPhone. The app senses when I am driving and sends me an alert soon after stopping to make sure I have remembered to remove the kids from the car.
The thing is – I don’t believe these preventive measures are enough. What I want as a mother and doctor are systems based alerts in-built into either my car or infant car seat to alert me, and other parents if we leave our kids in the car – or to alert passers by that will rescue my child on my behalf. The technology to prevent these deaths should not be too difficult. There are pad and alarm systems available for parents to install in their beds to prevent bed-wetting for example.
A number of start-ups have developed, or are developing technology to install in car seats and cars to prevent these deaths. None are available for purchase in Australia. The reason unfortunately I suspect has to do with money. Car seat and motor vehicle companies need to know there is a market for these products before they will invest in making them available. Consequently I have a request of you. What I would like to do is to send a message to car and car seat manufacturers worldwide that there is a market for these devices. I want to scream at them via social media that the community wants these devices made available to protect our kids. Get them into the market place pronto!
So I am creating a hashtag #Idpayforsafekidsincars and I am asking for your help. As well as using preventive measures such as the BESAFE acronym and “Remember the Kids” app to reduce the likelihood of you having a devastating memory lapse please share this article. Please use #Idpayforsafekidsincars on social media to let these companies know that you would purchase vehicles, or car seats that would help protect your precious children.
About the author:
Danielle Esler is a medical doctor and mum to three kids under seven. She blogs about traveling with her brood at Bubs on the Move. If you’d like to follow us on our journeys you can sign up for the newsletter, or join us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to receive updates.
A heat sensor car seat was introduced in the USA a few months ago.
http://www.evenflo.com/SensorSafe/
I remember being so glad when my own children were finally old enough to get out of car seats and open the door by themselves. There was a man in my town who left his toddler in the car on a hot day, and that poor child died. The father’s punishment is to go out and do talks about the topic to raise awareness. Having to relive it over and over again in public is probably so much worse than going to jail.
Hi Michele,
It is absolutely every parents nightmare I know! So sorry for the gentleman in your town and the rest of the family. Glad to see there is a car seat on market now in the USA. Let’s hope it is passed for Australia too.
Pingback: Bubs on the Move