Preventing child deaths in hot cars as summer approaches

AccuWeather

As summer approaches, Sue Auriemma of Kids and Car Safety offers an important reminder: Never leave children in a vehicle, as it can lead to deadly hot car incidents.

Transcript

00:00warmer weather is ahead and with it comes a serious danger children dying in hot cars

00:06already this year at least three young children have lost their lives most recently a two-year-old

00:11in maryland joining us right now is sue ariyama with kids and car safety thanks so much for being

00:16with us sue and sadly we've already lost three children this year in hot cars how do tragedies

00:21like this happen to even responsible parents well in more than half of the cases it's a situation

00:27where the child has been left unknowingly so there's been a change in routine there's often

00:33stress on the brain and fatigue and there's meant to be a daycare drop off and it doesn't happen

00:38because the parent drives straight to work their brain is kicked into autopilot and how quickly can

00:45the inside of a car become dangerous for a child even if it doesn't feel that hot outside it's a

00:53matter of minutes the the heating that occurs 80 percent takes place in the first 10 minutes

00:58and within minutes depending on the weather the car could be 125 degrees inside and i think it's

01:04important to note we want to raise awareness during warmer summer months but one of our incidents this

01:09year happened in new jersey in march and the temperature only reached 60 degrees that day

01:14because of the greenhouse effect it was too hot for the child and this has come up honestly just

01:20recently with the tornadoes with during severe weather some parents wonder if a child's car seat

01:24could offer protection if you were to bring that indoors do you have any recommendations if that

01:29is safe in an emergency well i would say for sure car seat experts would say that's not an indicated use

01:37it's not something that they could stand behind but if you are going to put the child in the car seat

01:42do the things that you would do normally under tornado preparation bringing them to an interior room

01:48with you with no windows or in a bathtub so i wouldn't rely on the car seat i would go straight

01:53to the tornado recommendations and what about using a blanket or cloth to shield the child from the sun

02:01in a car seat or stroller could that actually make the child hotter instead of keeping them safe

02:07yeah because that's part of what happens on those 60 degree days is the parents set off in the morning

02:14and it was probably in the low 50s so they were dressed for cold weather and now they have this

02:19extra insulation and the greenhouse effect and a child's body heats up three to five times faster

02:26than an adult's body so what are some of the recommendations what are the best things parents

02:30and caregivers can do right now to prevent these hot car tragedies number one even if you're not the

02:36person that drives the child to daycare or takes them with you every day put something in the back seat on

02:42the floor that you need at your destination it could be your handbag your computer bag your cell phone

02:47and that puts you in the habit of opening that back door every time you arrive at your destination

02:52again not just if you're the parent that drives if you have a daycare center situation make sure they

02:58have a call-in system that if your child doesn't arrive they call you and keep calling the members of

03:03your emergency list if they don't reach a human being and one last thing miss sue newer cars for example my car

03:12actually has a little alert that when i turn off the car it always says check uh back seat or check

03:19the back of your car do you think that's something that newer cars are going to continue to add as

03:24safety precautions that is a great start and it's raising awareness about the issue but if you don't

03:31go back to the back seat there's no consequence so if you get the alert and then you just go about

03:36your day or you didn't hear the alert because you were distracted nothing happens but there is

03:41technology that can alert the alert the driver to the presence of living being in the car it's much

03:48more sophisticated we're seeing it on some car brands like kia and hyundai and there is a proposed

03:53rule coming from the usdot that will mandate this in all cars but it's it's stuck at the dot right now and

04:00it's going to be many years to come so until that happens parents should make sure they understand

04:05this could happen to any parent even loving caring parents sorry emma with kids and car safety thanks

04:11so much again for joining us at accuweather early with this really important topic thank you

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