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Child Safety: How many seconds can you leave your infant in a hot car?

By Barbara Tubridy Lombardi

ANSWER: ZERO SECONDS

Summer Safety: Children and babies left in cars leads to death

'I'm just running in for a couple of minutes……I just need to pick something up…..I don't want to wake the baby……It will be quicker if I go in alone……' These are the last words spoken by some parents who leave their children in hot cars. Hot cars can quickly become ovens in only 10 minutes. Ten minutes is all it takes for the inside of a car to reach deadly temperatures on a hot summer day, according to Ronald Medford, Acting Deputy Administrator of the NHTSA.

'Forgetting a child in the back seat of a hot, parked car is a horrifying, inexcusable mistake. But is it a crime?'

As of June 16, 2009 there have been 10 deaths of children left in hot cars, and technically it is not even summer or the height of seasonal heat. Parents forgetting to drop their children off at daycare, or children climbing into parked cars at home have led to deaths. Even at temperatures that many would consider to be mild, ~70°F, the temperature can rise 20°in 10 minutes, and 30° in 20 minutes. Cracking the window does little to help cool the inside of a vehicle on a hot day.

Do children heat up faster than adults? Why is NASCAR race car driver Jeff Burton talking about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YluEqAu683w

Lisa Belkin of the NY Times, Motherlode Blog asks, 'How could any parent forget their child in a sweltering car?' Quoting from the Washington Post, 'Forgetting a child in the back seat of a hot, parked car is a horrifying, inexcusable mistake. But is it a crime?' Manslaughter charges were filed against Miles Harrison, considered to be a doting, conscientious father until one day during the summer of 2008 when he left his toddler son, Chase, in the car by accident. A Virginia resident, Miles drove to work, worked a full 9-hour day, and returned to his car to find his son, dead from hyperthermia. The question remains, Is it a crime? Just five days earlier, another Virginia resident, Andrew Culpepper, picked his son up from his parents, drove home, went inside the house and fell asleep, forgetting that his son was still in the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fs7RjmvkUM

Harrison was charged with a crime, Culpepper was not. Why? According to the Washington Post, the difference is as simple as Solomon's choice. Two separate Commonwealth attorneys came to completely different conclusions based on similar circumstances. In the end, Harrison was found not guilty. But will either of these parents ever be free from the guilt or their own personal prisons? Probably not.

As we enter the Summer of 2009, parents please pay attention to the following safety tips from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NSTSA):

Safety tips from NHTSA to prevent hyperthermia include:

• Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle.

• Do not let your children play in an unattended vehicle. Teach them that a vehicle is not a play area.

• Never leave infants or children in a parked vehicle, even if the windows are partially open or with the engine running and the air conditioning on.

• Make a habit of looking in the vehicle - front and back - before locking the door and walking away.

• If you are bringing your child to daycare, and normally it's your spouse or partner who brings them, have your spouse or partner call you to make sure everything went according to plan.

• Ask your childcare provider to call you if your child does not show up for childcare. Do things to remind yourself that a child is in the vehicle, such as:

-- Writing yourself a note and putting the note where you will see it when you leave the vehicle;

-- Placing your purse, briefcase or something else you need in the back seat so that you will have to check the back seat when you leave the vehicle; or

-- Keeping an object in the car seat, such as a stuffed toy. When the child is buckled in, place the object where the driver will notice it when he or she is leaving the vehicle.

• Always lock vehicle doors and trunks and keep keys out of children's reach. If a child is missing, check the vehicle first, including the trunk.

• If you see a child alone in a hot vehicle, call the police. If they are in distress due to heat, get them out as quickly as possible. Warning signs may include: red, hot, and moist or dry skin, no sweating, a strong rapid pulse or a slow weak pulse, nausea or acting strangely. Cool the child rapidly. Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.

ZERO SECONDS

Harrisons Hope is a national, nonprofit organization committed to educating children and caregivers about the dangers of children being left alone in and around cars.

THE INTERIOR OVEN EFFECT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvFqa0iCvxI

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Barbara Tubridy Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on June 19, 2009 (boomark / email).