AccuWeather's Melissa Constanzer highlights the serious risks of leaving children in vehicles on hot days and shares crucial tips to help prevent tragic outcomes.
00:00We really never want to cover here at AccuWeather, but unfortunately this week alone, two more hot car fatalities for kids in cars did occur this week.
00:10One was a four-month-old in South Carolina, the other a six-month-old in Texas, bringing Texas's total up to six.
00:15But if you think this is just a southern U.S. kind of focus, even this month we had a fatality, unfortunately, in the state of Maine.
00:24So there can be at any point in the year the risk for these hot car fatalities.
00:28We often think about them when the temperature is hot out.
00:31If it's 90 degrees outside, it only takes 10 minutes for that temperature to top 100 degrees.
00:36Remember that kids, they have a more difficult time trying to regulate their body temperature because they are so young than compared to adults.
00:45So that is going to be one of the challenges.
00:47And in just 30 minutes, we're talking about almost 125 degrees inside that car.
00:52But even if it's only 70 degrees outside, your car is still acting as a greenhouse.
00:56And if you've been in the greenhouse in winter, it's notably warmer.
01:00In fact, in just 10 minutes, we already topped 90 degrees.
01:03And in 30 minutes, we're above the body temperature of yourself at 104 degrees, which can be fatal if left in prolonged periods with 104 degrees.
01:12So we do have these big-time challenges, unfortunately, with keeping kids out of cars.
01:17Sometimes kids get in accidentally.
01:19Other times, kids will be left behind.
01:22And if you think cracking the window changes things, even after an hour at a 92-degree day, things match up here as far as what a closed car would be like towards a cracked window car.
01:33So it's always essential that, especially when you're leaving your car behind, make sure you check and look before you lock.
01:40Check the back seats.
01:41Do lock your car to keep other kids from trying to get in your car and possibly playing.
01:46Some of your neighbor kids might try to enter your car, and that could be fatal as well.
