Despite awareness campaigns from child safety advocates and substantial media coverage, the number of children dying in hot vehicles has continued to rise.
Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, said 28 children had succumbed to hyperthermia in automobiles through the end of July. Ms. Fennell said that number was a record for the first seven months of any calendar year.
While about half of those deaths occurred because children were left behind in parked cars — often inadvertently — the rest had come because children entered parked cars and then fell asleep or couldn’t open the door.
Like a number of other organizations, KidsAndCars.org offers recommendations intended to help prevent child hyperthermia deaths. The suggestions include keeping vehicles locked at all times, never leaving children alone in or around cars, and putting a reminder on the floor in the back seat when transporting a child — something you’ll need when you reach your destination, like your cellphone, handbag, employee ID or briefcase.
However, Ms. Fennell believes that awareness and education aren’t enough. She has campaigned for legislation that would mandate a device to warn caregivers when a child was left alone in a parked car. She seems to be getting support in the media.
Jeff Rossen of NBC News last week reported on the topic on “The Today Show.” “There is inexpensive, simple technology out there right now to help prevent these accidents, save these kids’ lives,” he said. “So the question is, Why aren’t carmakers using it, and why isn’t the government doing more?”
Numbers are part of the problem. The total number of deaths that occur because children are left behind in parked vehicles is small relative to the number of cars sold. But Ms. Fennell says she has an answer for that.
She said that if the number of hyperthermia deaths were combined with those caused by children riding unbelted in the rear, the total is far more substantial. And because an unlatched seat-belt warning device for rear seating positions would implement much of the technology required for a child-left-behind warning, her organization is pushing for both. Kids and Cars is asking that language requiring seat belt-latching reminders for all seating positions and a child-left-behind warning be attached to the Transportation Department’s reauthorization bill. Ms. Fennell hopes that the bill will be acted on this fall.
Other organizations are working for change as well. In August 2007, two consumer groups, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and Public Citizen, filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requesting rear seatbelt-latching reminders. The safety agency published the petition and asked for comments in June. Ms. Fennell believes that if N.H.T.S.A. mandates the rear-seat latching reminder, a child-left-behind reminder will become part of the package.