Hot Temps, Cool Kids!
As we head into the summer months, it is important to remember that while the temperature outside is heating up, so is the temperature inside your vehicle. This can unfortunately be a deadly combination for children left inside of vehicles. In fact, approximately every 10 days a child tragically dies due to hot cars. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), these preventable deaths are most likely to occur because:
- A child was accidentally forgotten in the vehicle (53%),
- A child got into an unattended vehicle and couldn’t get out (25%), or
- A child was intentionally left alone in a vehicle, even for a short time (22%)
The PA Traffic Injury Prevention Project (PA TIPP) provides these sobering facts to help put the risks in perspective:
- A car can heat up 20 degrees Fahrenheit in only 10 minutes.
- Cracking a window does little to keep a car cool
- Heatstroke can happen when the temperature outside is as low as 57 degrees Fahrenheit. With temperatures in the 60’s, your car can heat up to well above 110 degrees.
- A child’s body temperature rises up to 5 times faster than an adult’s, and children are less able to lower their body heat by sweating
- A child dies when his or her temperature reaches 107 degrees.
- Warning signs of heat stroke include: red, hot, and moist or dry skin; no sweating; strong rapid pulse or slow weak pulse; nausea; and confusion or acting strangely. If a child exhibits any of these signs after being in a hot vehicle, cool the child rapidly by spraying them with cool water and call 911.
While hot car deaths are almost always tragic accidents, they are preventable and there are lots of creative ways for parents and caregivers to make sure their children are safe. Let’s break it down based on the three causes of hot car death:
Forgotten Children
Caring for a baby or young child is by very nature exhausting. With a fuller schedule, sleep deprivation, and a million details to manage, it is completely understandable that a caregiver may go into “auto pilot” mode and forget their precious cargo in the vehicle. We all have our funny stories about the crazy things “mom brain” made us do (Wanna hear mine? It’s picking up and rocking a baby for way too long in the middle of the night wondering why she was still crying only to realize she wasn’t – it was her twin sister yelling from her crib). The difference is that while some of these stories are simply funny memories, others have dire consequences.
Accidents involving children forgotten in the vehicle tend to happen more often when there is a change of schedule or caregiver – and this sounds way too familiar in the foster care world! They are also more likely to happen at the end of the week as exhaustion and fatigue increase.
While there are some high-tech devices and solutions aimed to help with this issue, there are some free and low-tech solutions that can also be very effective. Here are some ideas:
- Place something you will need at your destination (phone, purse, office keys, etc.) in the back seat near the child’s car seat.
- Set up a system with a second caregiver where you let them know when the child has been safely dropped off. It is far less likely for both of you to forget. Some childcare centers even have a built-in system for this, or you can ask them to call you if the child is not dropped off at their normal time.
- This is a fun suggestion from PA TIPP – leave a large stuffed animal strapped into your child’s car seat. When you put the child in the car, move the stuffie to the front seat. At your destination, hopefully seeing the furry friend next to you will remind you that your child is in the back seat!
- Get in the habit of always checking the front and back seat of your vehicle before you walk away.
Accidental Explorers
The best way to prevent a child from accidentally climbing into an unattended vehicle and not being able to get out is to make sure you get in the habit of always locking your vehicles – yes, even in the garage. It is also important to teach kids that cars are not a play space, and they should never get into one without a grownup.
Quick Errands
All caregivers of littles know the struggle – you have to run into someplace for just literally one minute. You know that getting all of the kids into and out of their car seats will be a feat of time and energy that would be best suited to an 8-legged octopus. As a twin mom and a CPST, I feel this conflict deeply. Even now that my twins are big 6 year olds who need minimal assistance getting into and out of the car, I still often find myself daydreaming about how bad it would really be if I just left them alone for a second. (Don’t worry, I have never and will never actually seriously do this – but it is sooooo tempting.) Thankfully, the last few years have brought us an increase in the amount of curbside pickup and drivethrough options which can help alleviate some of this burden.
However, the long and the short of it remains: however exhausting, however inconvenient, however ridiculous – it is always ALWAYS the right thing to do to bring your kids inside (or find another time to do the errand when you’re alone). In fact, it is the law. As we have already discussed, temperatures inside of the vehicle can rise rapidly, even with the windows cracked and even when it’s not hot outside. Your one-minute errand could unexpectedly lead to two minutes, or three, or five, or oops – gotta call the manager to fix the register and suddenly your kids are in the danger zone.
Now that we’ve covered why it’s important to never leave a child unattended in a vehicle even for a few moments, what should you do if you’re out and about and see a child left alone in a car? If they’re alert and ok, emergency measures probably don’t need to be taken but it is important to make sure their parents are located ASAP. If you can’t locate the parents, I would recommend calling 911. The worst that can happen is that the parents come back before the police respond – and that’s actually a “best case scenario.” But on the off chance that the parents are distracted, incapacitated, and/or have forgotten the child, the police can assist and make sure the child is safe.
If you come across a child who is displaying signs of heat stroke or who does not appear to be conscious, in addition to immediately calling 911, NHTSA advises that you should attempt to get into the car to remove the child, even if you have to break a window. Every second matters, and it could save their life.
All of our resource parents are provided with a fact sheet from PA TIPP regarding hot car deaths as part of a car seat safety packet during their orientation. If you would like a free copy of this sheet, you can contact our office and we would be happy to share!
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