Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lawmakers indifferent to vulnerable kids
The Legislature should make child car safety a priority, no matter the pushback from lobbyists or anti-regulation conservatives.
Yet another South Florida toddler died last week after being left unattended in a van at a state-regulated daycare center. Noah Sneed — “the happiest thing ever,” in the words of his mom — was picked up on a hot summer morning and found still strapped in that afternoon at Ceressa’s Daycare and Preschool in Oakland Park.
This is hardly the first time we’ve watched this heartbreak play out. Between 1998 and 2018, 89 Florida children died in hot cars, including seven in daycare vans. Enough is enough.
State lawmakers must address this treatable epidemic.
Lawmakers may not be able to address the safety issue in private cars, although automakers surely can. They could finally make it safe for kids to ride in the front seat — where they could be seen. Or they could add an alarm that alerts drivers about buckled-in backseat passengers when the engine is turned off. Given all the alarms about unbuckled seat belts, passing cars and obstacles front and rear, a lifesaving back-seat alarm is not asking too much.
Lawmakers could, though, require stateregulated daycare centers to equip their vans with such alarms. The estimated cost of such an alarm, including installation? About $500.
Is a toddler’s life worth $500? The obvious answer is yes.
Yet the Florida Legislature continues to show an indifference toward our vulnerable little kids.
It has been eight years since former Sen. Maria Sachs, a Democrat from Boca Raton, first proposed a bill that would have required backseat alarms in daycare vans.
Her bill passed the Senate, but faltered in the House. She tried again and again, but an anti-regulation mindset stood in her way.
In 2018, Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, tried again — and again in 2019. She will try again in the 2020 legislative session, which begins in January.
Meanwhile, the tragedy continues. A four-month-old baby girl died in a scorching
van in Jacksonville on a recent 92-degree day, one of four children who have died since May.
In a column in The Orlando Sentinel, Stewart said it was “baffling” that House leaders expressed little interest in passing her bill — even after it was weakened to make an alarm optional.
“I knew after we got out of session that there were going to be kids dying in these vans,” Stewart told the Sun Sentinel this week. "But I didn’t expect there would be four of them.”
Given the state’s indifference, Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties adopted ordinances requiring backseat alarms in daycare vans. Because of local action, Noah stood a chance. But late Tuesday, we learned the driver had disabled the alarm before inspecting each seat. Better training and spot inspections are obviously needed to ensure compliance.
On behalf of all Florida children, Noah’s death demands action. The Legislature should make child car safety a priority, no matter the pushback from lobbyists or anti-regulation conservatives.
Government exists to keep us safe.
Noah died on government’s watch.
Pass Stewart’s bill.