Where’s the Baby? Look Before You Lock. This is the slogan for National Heatstroke Prevention Day (July 31), a program designed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission (NHTSC) and HealthyKids to increase awareness of young children becoming trapped in cars in hot weather.
Here is what you should know:
1. Parked cars can be killers. Every year an average of 38 American children die and dozens more suffer permanent brain damage in cars from heat. Fifty-two percent (52%) are accidentally left in a car; 30% climb into a car on their own, and 17% are left in a car on purpose and then forgotten until it is too late. Many other children experience “close calls.”
2. Temperatures inside cars rise fast. The sun heats dashboards and other objects to 160 degrees F (71 C) or more, which in turn heats stagnant air. Windows rolled down a few inches help little. Even when outside temperatures are 80 degrees F (27 C), the temperature inside the car can reach deadly levels in 20 minutes. Under the right conditions, heatstroke can occur in spring/fall when external temperatures are 65 degrees F (18 C).
3. The younger the child, the greater the risk. In a hot vehicle, with no access to liquids, a young child’s body temperature increases rapidly, far faster than an adult’s in similar circumstances. Children are less able to sweat; sweating rids the body of heat. At 105 degrees F (40 C), the body’s temperature control systems become sluggish. At 107 degrees F (42 C), cells are damaged and vital organs begin to shut down. Much of the damage is irreversible. (Children with high fevers in a cool environment and able to drink do not experience heat stroke.)
4. The vast majority of adults involved in these tragedies are responsible individuals. They either forgot that a child was in the car, left the car “for a second” to do an errand and became distracted, or left the car unlocked, usually in their own garage or driveway. Only 7% are believed to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident.
5. Check your car immediately if your child is out of sight. Teach children that cars are not play areas. Lock cars when not in use. Young children find it easier to enter an unlocked car than exit it. Check trunks. Keep an eye on children when the trunk is open for packing/ unpacking. (Also be sure to check pools, if applicable. About 300 toddlers drown in home pools yearly; thousands more are seen at ERs for near-downing.)
6. Never leave young children unattended in a car. While it is a hassle to remove children from car seats to run into the post office to mail letters, for example, leaving them can cause tragedies and land you in jail – even if nothing happens. In some states it is a felony to leave children unattended in a car.
7. When you see a young child alone in a car, call 911. Don’t assume that an adult will be right back. Minutes count. Remove the child from the car if the child does not look right. In an emergency pour cold water over the child. If the child is responsive, also offer liquids.
8. Be aware of your state of mind when you have children in your car. Stress, emotional issues, lack of sleep, and medications increase risk by affecting your judgment. Also playing a role are changes in your routine, remembering you need something from the supermarket or an impulse to stop for coffee, for example. Combinations of factors further increase risk. Being aware of your state of mind may help you remember the child in the car.
9. Invent a reminder for yourself. Train yourself to check the backseat before leaving cars. Place briefcases and handbags or other important items in the back seat next to the child. (One mother puts her shoes next to her infant. She drives barefooted but doesn’t walk barefooted, she says.) Place one of the child’s toys or the diaper bag on the front seat.
(Ironically, the incidence of children left in cars rose sharply in the 1980s – the result of campaigns to improve safety. Until then most infants rode in the front seat. But studies showed that infants are safest when their car seats are on the backseat and facing backwards, making sleeping infant practically invisible to the driver. But overall, placing infants on the backseat facing backward is safest.)
10. Electronic devices are available as reminders. Most are activated by electronic sensors attached to the infant’s clothing and to you. However, in preliminary studies of the devices, the NHTSA found them to be “unreliable.” Faults included: certain positions (posture) of the child that inactivated the system; interference from other electronic equipment in the car; and variations in the distance from the child that activated the alarm, for example. However, some safety experts suggest that even at this stage of development, using these devices may be safer than no device.
