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The final paragraph of this article is very telling.

Quote:More kids trapped in sweltering cars are dying

WASHINGTON (AP) — Temperatures are rising and so are reports of infants and toddlers dying from being trapped inside sizzling automobiles.

A researcher says 18 children have died of hyperthermia since the beginning of the year, with eight deaths reported since June 13. That's the largest number of fatalities through the first half of a year since Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology at San Francisco State University, began tracking the data in the late 1990s.

Government and safety experts are telling parents that they never should leave children in an unattended vehicle or allow kids to play in cars and trucks. Many of the recent cases have involved children who climbed inside an unlocked vehicle on a hot day and then couldn't get out.

"These really are good parents who love these kids who make a mistake that turns out to be fatal," said David Strickland, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The government's highway safety agency issued a consumer advisory this week that included a warning for parents not to leave children unattended in or near a vehicle.

Null, who has compiled data on the cases through media reports, said 37 children typically die each year from heat exhaustion in vehicles. A NHTSA report in June 2009, based on police reports, estimated that 27 children died in 2003-2004 from hyperthermia.

The deaths in June have caught the attention of safety advocates because July tends to be the most deadly month for children trapped in hot cars. With a week left in June, the number of deaths has topped the previous high of 17 fatalities from January to June 2009, according to Null's data.

In 2005, when Null counted 47 child hyperthermia fatalities, only 12 of the deaths occurred through the end of June.

Since 1998, Null has documented 463 child deaths involving heat exhaustion inside cars and trucks. Safety advocates said the deaths have been more prevalent since the mid-1990s when parent-drivers were required to put their children in the back seat, where they are safer in transit but more likely to be forgotten.

Six fatalities have been reported in Texas, including three in the past month, along with two deaths apiece in Tennessee and Missouri.

In Hineston, Ala., 2-year-old Hunter Iles was found dead on Monday in the front passenger seat of his family's car after playing with other children outside his home. Sheriff's officials told local media outlets that the child was discovered missing and later found unconscious in the vehicle. Temperatures were in the 90s that day.

In Portageville, Mo., 2-year-old twins Allannah and Alliya Larry were found dead in their grandmother's car on June 16 as temperatures pushed into the mid-90s. New Madrid County Sheriff Terry Stevens said the children apparently got into the unlocked car on their own and were locked inside the vehicle for two hours.

When investigators arrived, he said, the temperatures inside the car had surpassed 140 degrees.

Children are particularly vulnerable because they have difficulty escaping on their own and their respiratory and circulatory systems can't handle heat as well as adults.

Safety groups such as Kids and Cars and Safe Kids USA urge parents to check the back seat every time they exit the vehicle and to create a reminder system for themselves.

Some parents leave their cellphone or purse on the floor near the car seat to ensure they retrieve it along with the child. Others remind themselves by placing a stuffed animal in the car seat when the child isn't using the seat and putting the toy in the front seat when the child is tucked in the car seat.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010...cars_N.htm

(06-27-2010 05:04 PM)NKBurlington Wrote: [ -> ]"These really are good parents who love these kids who make a mistake that turns out to be fatal," said David Strickland, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Good parents my ass. Good parents don't roast their kids are have conditions where kids can roast themselves. I always keep my car doors locked at all times when I'm not driving. Why is this a difficult concept for parent to comprehend. Is it too much effort to unlock a car when going somewhere? And why are kids not being watched when they're out playing. They could easily end up in a stranger's car if they're out on the street playing.

Good point NKB on the last paragraph. A woman will never forget her cell phone or purse, but might forget she has her kid in the car. How does that work?

Quote:Safety advocates said the deaths have been more prevalent since the mid-1990s when parent-drivers were required to put their children in the back seat, where they are safer in transit but more likely to be forgotten.

Along with that last paragraph you pointed out, NKB -- I still can't figure out why it's so hard to remember your child is in the car!!!! I'm serious! -- I have never forgotten my purse or cell phone or other thing I REGULARLY carry!!! I mean, aren't kids regularly carried in cars, too?

(I can understand the deaths where the kids are playing and they lock themselves in. Sorta -- like DogH, I keep my car locked at all times, so I don't EXACTLY get it, but at least in these cases, the parents aren't forgetting their kids inside a locked car.)

What I find interesting that everyone is so ready to give these parents the benefit of the doubt, yet if the person who left a child to die were a daycare worker or a babysitter I'll bet plenty of people would be screaming for their heads.

I've seen stories were bus drivers doesn't realize that a child is sleeping in a seat the rear of the bus and they are raked over the coals and the school system gets sued.

And who ever leaves their purse or cell phone in a car? That's just an invitation for thieves to smash your window, grab the goods and run.

If someone left an adult in a car and they fried, they would be charged. Why are parents exempt from the law?

(06-27-2010 11:08 PM)NKBurlington Wrote: [ -> ]If someone left an adult in a car and they fried, they would be charged. Why are parents exempt from the law?

EXACTLY! Could you imagine if it was incapacitated grandma or someone else who needed a wheelchair or a stroller to get around.... BESIDES a kid? Manslaughter charges for sure... while the parents of the lil' sizzlers HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH. Ugh.

Here's that quote again: ""These really are good parents who love these kids who make a mistake that turns out to be fatal," said David Strickland.

Really? I don't forget my dogs in the car. I don't forget a bag of groceries or my backpack, either. These people are morons.

ETA: We never leave our cars unlocked unless they are in our garage. People can get in to ambush you, trash it or steal it. Why would I do that? If people are too distracted and busy to remember a child in a car, maybe they shouldn't be parents at all. What a concept.

I leave my car locked when I'm in and when I'm not.

I was talking with DH about this, and he thinks there are more lil' sizzlers today because of the "kids in the back seat" law. It was hard to forget about them when they were right next to Mom and Dad, but I suppose it's much easier to forget about a sleeping baby in the back seat if one is distracted. Still, considering its TMIJITW, one would think they'd be more vigilant about it. It's funny that the cell phone would be something they'd instantly miss, but not the kid!

Maybe they don't WANT to remember the kid. "Oops! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhh! My baybeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

(06-27-2010 10:26 PM)Horse Racer Wrote: [ -> ]I've seen stories were bus drivers doesn't realize that a child is sleeping in a seat the rear of the bus and they are raked over the coals and the school system gets sued.

Yeppers.

But to say something against the school bus drivers, a standard practice at the end of each run is to sweep out the bus, and for that, you go row to row, and should catch a sleeping child before the bus overheats. If the employer has this rule, and a kid is trapped in a sweltering bus at the end of the shift, the bus driver has violated a rule (sweep the bus), and should be fired, at the very least.

I too can't figure out how people forget their baby.
I've locked my keys in the car twice in my life. Both times the second the door went 'click' I remembered. Can't imagine leaving something important for a length of time that could result in death.

(06-28-2010 01:59 AM)eslbee Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe they don't WANT to remember the kid. "Oops! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhh! My baybeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Roasting your kids in the car is the perfect way to get rid of your kids without having to face criminal charges because you can just play the "oh, I forgot my screaming, smelly kid that I take everywhere and who is the center of my world" card. If we prosecuted these people, we'd see a lot fewer of these crimes. I guarantee it.

Nadleeh, you, too, may be on to something. This is natural selection at work! We shouldn't interfere.

I've been saying for years that these are not accidents. It amazes me that people can't understand this. I've said before that if I can remember a carton of ice cream in my car there is no excuse for not remembering a living creature.

(06-28-2010 10:59 PM)eslbee Wrote: [ -> ]Nadleeh, you, too, may be on to something. This is natural selection at work! We shouldn't interfere.

LOL!

At least it takes the spawn of these idiots out of society.. unless they make more of them, that is.

While I agree with the sentiment of removing the spawn of these idiots, it's a horrible way to die. Something that is very quietly removed from the media reports of these deaths is that these children are found with their hands bloody because they ripped their hair out by the roots trying to relieve the heat as they died. It's not photogenic so of course it never is reported. If the juries in these criminal cases saw that they'd fry the culprit, much as the culprit who fried their kid in the car.

(07-01-2010 09:44 PM)Eddy Wrote: [ -> ]While I agree with the sentiment of removing the spawn of these idiots, it's a horrible way to die. Something that is very quietly removed from the media reports of these deaths is that these children are found with their hands bloody because they ripped their hair out by the roots trying to relieve the heat as they died. It's not photogenic so of course it never is reported. If the juries in these criminal cases saw that they'd fry the culprit, much as the culprit who fried their kid in the car.

I was hesitant to bring it up, but I also feel that the kids in no way deserve the fate they were dealt by their idiot parents, and I don't believe that it's natural selection. It's murder. And as someone who gets very sick in the heat, I can't imagine a much worse way to die. Hell, when I get in the car on a hot day, I feel like I'm gonna die until the a/c kicks on. I can't imagine being in there for hours, getting hotter and hotter. The kids didn't do anything wrong - the parents did.

They did, indeed, Nadleeh. They bred when they had no business doing it.