We’re in a heat wave that we are not accustomed to in this area of the country where we live, so it is advisable to put special care with those who cannot fend for themselves: our children, our elders and our pets.
Every summer, heartbreaking and preventable deaths happen when children are left alone in hot cars. More than 600 U.S. children have died that way since 1990, according to the nonprofit safety group Kids and Cars.
In general, 52 percent of these deaths are due to neglect of forgetting a child in a car. “In the worst case, if a child is small and on the sunny side of the car, death can occur in 15 minutes or less,” says Jan Null, Certified Consulting Meteorologist “.
Our pets, like children, are less able to cool compared to adult humans. Each year thousands of animals die as a result of excess heat when left in a closed vehicle. However, believe it or not, pets are better protected than children by the legal system today. There are more states with laws against leaving pets in the car than the 19 states with laws against leaving children in the car.
“It is never OK to leave kids or pets in a car — even with the windows down,” says Christopher McStay, MD, an emergency room doctor and assistant professor of emergency medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center. “It is an absolute no-no.”
“Parents leave children in a car for lack of understanding about how sick they can get and how quickly they can get sick,” says Christopher Haines, DO, director of pediatric emergency medicine at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.
“On a day that is just 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature inside a car can increase by 30 to 40 degrees in an hour, and 70% of this increase occurs the first 30 minutes,” he says.
These cases happen when kids are left unattended in a hot car — sometimes because the driver forgot the child was there — or when kids get into unlocked cars without any adult knowing it happened. Within minutes, they can be in danger.
If you are driving around with children an elderly person and or pets as passengers, before leaving your vehicle, please, be sure to look in the back seat. Perhaps you are leaving behind a precious cargo.
