Never Leave Kids Alone In The
Car NEW YORK, July 21,
2005
Tammy Russell
says she often wonders what her daughter Kaitlyn would look like today.
This September, Kaitlyn would have been entering kindergarten. But five
years ago on a hot summer day in California, Kaitlyn's babysitter forgot her in
the backseat of a car.
Russell says, "The day that Kaitlyn died, they had
estimated that the temperature inside the vehicle was 130 degrees."
And
Kaitlyn's body temperature had risen to 107 degrees.
Russell notes, "The
coroner estimated that within the first 15 minutes of being left in the car that
Kaitlyn succumbed to the heat."
When The Early Show consumer
correspondent Susan Koeppen started working on this story, about two weeks
ago, there were nine children who had died this year after being left alone in
cars. That number is now up to 17.
Unfortunately, that number will
probably go even higher. And experts say cracking open your windows is not
enough to keep your kids safe.
"Children being left alone in vehicles is
a very big problem," says Janette Fennell, founder of an organization called Kids and Cars.
She says at least 30 children die each year from heat stroke, after
being left in cars, often by the people who love them the most: Their parents.
Fennell explains, "In most cases, it's the parents who inadvertently
have forgotten to drop the baby at the babysitter or the day care."
How
does this happen? Fennell says a common thread in these cases is a change in a
parent's normal routine, which can lead to a memory lapse. Fennell
notes, "If you are the dad and you always take the kid to day care and maybe mom
has to take the kid to day care that day, just have some good checks and
balances in place to ensure that the child arrives at the destination safely."
It is part of the job of Trooper Donna Tadiello from the Connecticut
State Police to drive in and out of rest areas and commuter parking lots looking
for kids who may have been left alone in a car. And she says she sees kids left
behind in cars all the time.
In Connecticut, if you leave a child
younger than 12 alone in a vehicle, you could be charged with a felony. And
troopers have a warning for parents: Cars can get dangerously hot, faster than
you might think.
Tadiello explains, "Within minutes, within seconds, the
vehicle's temperature - the inside temperature - can heat up even if the outside
temperatures are in the mid 70s. If the windows are up and the sun is beating
through the windows, the temperature can rise to very dangerous levels."
Koeppen wanted to see what would happen when she put a thermometer in
the backseat of a SUV on a sunny 90-degree day in New York City. Within an hour,
the heat rose to 122 degrees, deadly to a child.
To prevent children
from becoming trapped in hot cars, even NASA has gotten involved. It has
developed a safety system that would alert parents, if a child was left strapped
in a car seat.
It's called the Child Presence Sensor. Here's how
it works: A device is placed in the child's car seat. If a parent walks away
with the baby still inside the car, an alarm attached to a key chain will go
off.
NASA's William Edwards says, "The only way to cut off the alarm is
for the driver to go back to the car and get the child, and the alarm will
reset."
Russell supports a new federal bill that would require that sort
of warning device in vehicles; an alarm that tells drivers a passenger is still
in the backseat. In the meantime, she says, parents need to be diligent.
"Never think that this can't happen to you," she says,."And do
everything in your power to prevent it from happening. Make a habit of always
checking the backseat. Never, ever, intentionally leave a child alone in a
vehicle. Not for a minute, not for a second, because those seconds could mean
your child's life."
Experts say many of these cases do not involve
deadbeat parents. These are loving, caring, and well educated parents, like
doctors and lawyers, who forget their children in the backseat.
Here are
some tips to ensure your child is not left behind:
If you have a briefcase or a purse and you're heading to work, make sure
you put that purse or the briefcase in the back seat. It forces you to come
around to look, and you see your briefcase. You see the child.
With the child comes the diaper bag. Put the child in the back seat, the
diaper bag in the front seat with you. A visual cue that you have a child in
the back seat. Also put a teddy bear up front with you. It is another visual
reminder there's a child in the back seat.
If you see a child in a vehicle, call 911
immediately.
