Twenty-three children have died this year nationwide after being left in hot cars, and people from KidsAndCars.org are spending Wednesday trying to prevent more tragedies.
The group is marking Heat Stroke Prevention Day by visiting birthing centers in cities nationwide, distributing Look Before You Lock safety cards for new parents.
“A change in routine, fatigue, distraction, anxiety -- each can lead to a tragic momentary memory lapse,” said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, in a release. “It can happen to anybody, even the most loving and attentive parents.”
Many parents who have forgotten their children in cars say they never believed they could do such a thing.
"I learned that anyone can forget their child. Especially if they are tired and [out of] their normal routine (like me)," wrote Jennifer Knight on KidsAndCars.org.
Knight inadvertently left her youngest son, Chris, in her car for two hours because she usually didn't take him to to daycare, she said. Her son survived, but the trauma lingered.
"Even after knowing he was OK and even holding him, I went through a period where I had nightmares and I would wake up just to see if Chris was really still here with me," she wrote. "....I urge anyone, even those who think this can't happen to them, to take precautions to prevent this tragedy from happening to them."
SaferCar.gov and KidsAndCars.org offer the following tips to keep your kids safe:
- Leave anything you normally need (such as your purse, wallet or cell phone) in the back seat).
- Keep a large item such as a stuffed toy in your child's seat when he or she isn't there. Keep the item in the front seat when your child is in the back.
- Check your back seats every time you leave the car.
- Arrange to have your child's daycare, babysitter or school call you if your child doesn't arrive.
- If you're dropping off your child but your partner normally does it, have him or her call you to make sure the dropoff went according to plan.
- Teach your children never to enter or play in a parked vehicle.
- Heatstroke can occur in weather as low as 57 degrees, and children's body temperatures rise faster than adults'. Never leave your child unattended in a vehicle, even for a minute.
Deaths of children forgotten in cars have been in the rise in recent years, with some experts saying the increase may be linked to car seat laws that often leave kids out of view.
"Two decades ago, this was relatively rare," wrote the Washington Post's Gene Weingarten in his Pulitzer Prize-winning article, Fatal Distraction:
"But in the early 1990s, car-safety experts declared that passenger-side front airbags could kill children, and they recommended that child seats be moved to the back of the car; then, for even more safety for the very young, that the baby seats be pivoted to face the rear. If few foresaw the tragic consequence of the lessened visibility of the child... well, who can blame them? What kind of person forgets a baby?The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate."
In the D.C./Baltimore region, two babies died earlier this month after being left in vehicles.
On July 9 in Arlington, Zoraida Magali Conde Hernandez, 32, drove to work July 9 and forgot that her 8-month-old son, Nathan, was in the car. She found his body six hours later. Hernandez has been charged with felony neglect.
The same day, 16-month-old Sabriya Towels died after being left in a truck for about four hours in Baltimore.
In 2012, 32 children died after being left in hot cars, according to figures from KidsandCars.gov. But the number of children who died this way has doubled in 2013, compared to the same time last year, Montgomery County Police said earlier this month.
ALSO SEE:
- Bond Granted for Mom Who Left Baby in Hot Car
- Kids' Hot Car Deaths on the Rise, Police Say
- Mom Who Left Baby in Hot Car Charged with Neglect
- Man Leaves Kid in Car, Goes to Class
- No Charges in Case of Va. Boy Left in Hot Truck
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