Hot cars can be death traps for kids, pets

It takes only minutes for a closed vehicle to become a sweltering death trap for children and pets.

That has already happened twice this year in Florida — a 1-year-old boy died in February after being left in a car outside a house in Miami-Dade’s Pinecrest community, and a month later a 2-year-old boy died after being left in a car for several hours at a parking lot in Brandon, in Hillsborough County.

“These types of incidents are very preventable,” said Ignatius Carroll, spokesman with the City of Miami Fire Rescue, speaking Thursday morning during a press conference at the Florida Highway Patrol’s Miami headquarters.

“What you need to recognize is that if this is out of your normal routine when you are transporting your child or pet … have something to remind you that they are in the vehicle. Be vigilant, be aware.”

Child advocates suggest leaving a purse, laptop, lunch or cellphone in the back seat near the child or pet as a reminder.

Deviating from routine is a common factor among cases in which children are accidentally forgotten in cars.

Silvia Beebe, with the Department of Children and Families, said some parents who have thought it impossible to forget their child are among those who grieve.

“We cannot stress enough … the natural response for parents is to say that this is not going to happen to them … be assured that all the parents that lost their child to this particular incident, they thought the same,” Beebe said.

Kenny Brighton, a spokesman for ChildNet of Broward County, a nonprofit children’s advocacy agency, said preventing hot car deaths should be a communitywide effort.

“With the amount of cars we have in parking lots and the amount of parking lots in Broward County, the only effective way that we as a community can guarantee the safety of children is if we are all cognizant, we are all prepared and ready to act on behalf of these children who cannot protect themselves.”

Since 2013, there have been four hot-car deaths in Miami-Dade, one in Broward, and one in Palm Beach County, according to the Department of Children and Families.

According to statistics from KidsAndCars.org, there have been 793 child vehicular heat stroke deaths in the U.S. from 1990-2016. In 55 percent of those cases, the child was unknowingly left. In 28 percent, the child got into the vehicle on their own, and in 13 percent, the child was knowingly left.

About half of those 793 cases have led to charges of child neglect or manslaughter, with an 81 percent conviction rate, said Jan Null, a meteorologist and professor at San Jose State University, who has been tracking child vehicular heat stroke deaths since 2001. His project, NoHeatStroke.org, receives funding from the U.S. National Safety Council.

There have been deaths when outside temperatures were in the mid 60’s, said Null. The onset of heat stroke occurs at a body temperature of 104 degrees. At 88 degrees, the temperature inside a car can rise to 117 in 20 minutes and 131 degrees in an hour, Null added.

Earlier this month, a bill was introduced to the U.S. Congress that would require all new vehicles to be equipped with sensors that would alert the driver that a passenger remains inside after the motor is turned off.

State law protects from civil liability anyone who breaks a window to rescue a child or pet from a hot car.