Children Forgotten in Cars: Ideas for Keeping Your Child Safe

There have been many tragic stories in recent years about young children dying inside hot cars. According to the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University (http://ggweather.com/heat/index.htm) there were 42 cases of children deaths due to hyperthermia in cars in 2008 and a total of 415 deaths in the ten year period from 1998 to 2008. According to the website, studies show that these tragedies can happen on relatively mild days, days when the outside temperature is in the seventies. On a seventy degree sunny day the temperature in a parked car can reach a fatal level with alarming speed.

The first thought is to think that these parents are the worst kind of people, but that really isn't the case all of the time. None of us are perfect and we forget things. Most of the time forgetting something doesn't lead to tragic circumstances, but on rare occasions it does. In today's society there many added stresses and distractions; many people are on auto-pilot with their daily routines. Any modification to that routine, such as a parent switching child care duties with the other parent, may lead to this kind of tragedy.

It's not unlike taking your eyes off the road long enough to change the radio station or to reach for something. Almost everyone has done that several times in their lives. On extremely rare occasions that second of inattention becomes tragic. People are rushed everyday and they forget things every day. I know; in the case of a child, it is a child and not a thing, but on those rare occasions even a child can be forgotten.

My wife and talked about this at length a few times. Being a software geek by trade; my first thought was more high tech. I wondered why car manufacturers could not sense the weight in the back seat and alert the driver when he or she opens their door. Yes, having things in the back can cause a false alarm but it is better than leaving a child.

My wife had a suggestion that could be implemented by anyone right now. Attach a bungee chord to your car key and attach the other end to the child seat. The chord would have to be long enough not to impede the driving motion. The idea is that the driver could not take out the key without knowing it was attached to the child seat. It actually could be anything from a string to a chain as long as it does not allow the driver to take the key away.

Using a precaution such as the one my wife suggested could prevent a tragic accident; one that could be fatal to a child and one that would destroy a family. I believe auto manufacturers should be adding child protection features in future cars, but in the meantime we believe there are ways to protect children from tragedy. A little thought may bring future year's statistics closer to zero.