Hot car deaths prompt pleas to parents

DALLAS — The deaths of four children in hot cars in recent days has brought the number across the U.S. this year to at least 23, nearly matching the total for all of last year and prompting experts to plead for vigilance and warn parents that it can happen to anyone.

“It just breaks your heart,” said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national child safety nonprofit based in Philadelphia.

Samaria Motyka, 4, died Friday in Williamsport, Pa., after her caregiver drove to work instead of taking her to day care. In Dallas, 2-year-old Boi Lei Sang died after being left in a hot car in a parking lot Sunday while his family was in church.

Fennell, whose organization tracks such deaths, said the number began dramatically rising in the 1990s with the passing of laws requiring that young children be placed in the back seat to avoid air-bag injuries. “The problem is, when you are out of sight, you can be out of mind,” Fennell said.

The numbers of heatstroke deaths of kids in cars fluctuated in the following decades, averaging 37 such deaths a year since 1998. Last year, with about two dozen deaths, was an unusually low year. The worst was 2010, with 49, according to both a count by Fennell and Jan Null, a research meteorologist at San Jose State University, who also tracks numbers.

Parents should get into the habit of always opening their back doors when they leave the vehicle, according to Fennell. Leaving a purse or cellphone in the back seat can help.

Other strategies include keeping a stuffed animal in the car seat and placing it in the front seat when the child is strapped in as a reminder that the child is there. Parents also need to make sure their day care calls them if the child doesn’t show up, she said.

“It happens to the very best of parents,” Fennell said.