Vigilance is first step in preventing a tragedy
All-too common tragedy of kids dying in hot cars requires vigilance, not judgment
The unthinkable has happened twice already this summer.
First, a two-year-old boy in Burlington, Ont., was discovered dead when his father returned to his parked vehicle after work on a warm day in May.
It happened again last Friday in Montreal. On the eve of the holiday weekend, a dad showed up at a daycare to pick up his sixmonth-old. When informed the baby had never been dropped off, he ran to his car to find the child dead inside still strapped in the carseat.
By all appearances, these cases fit an all-too common pattern: children who die after being left in the car on a hot day. The temperature inside rapidly climbs to sweltering, and the helpless youngsters succumb to heatstroke.
By all appearances, these cases also have the hallmarks of a fartoo familiar tragedy: parents inadvertently forgetting their children in the car, whether it’s because of a change in habit, stress or distraction. They come to realize their disastrous mistake only when they return to pick up a child who was never dropped off.
For anyone telling themselves they would never commit such an unthinkable error, think again.
According to the organization noheatstroke.org, it has happened 760 times in the United States in the last 20 years, including 42 times in 2017 and 18 times so far this year. The average annual death toll is 37. Although some kids died after getting into the car on their own on a hot day and getting locked inside, the majority were infants and toddlers who were forgotten. All of their deaths could have been prevented.
It has happened three times in 15 years in Quebec, including the most recent case. In August 2016, a father from St-Jérôme left his 11-month-old son in the car instead of dropping him off at daycare. He simply forgot after dropping his two older children off at a day camp.
In July 2003, a father left his 23-month-old daughter in the car all day after parking near the LaSalle métro station. Running late that morning, he and his wife changed their routine, causing him to forget to stop at the daycare before heading to work.
A key difference between them is that the dad in 2003 was initially charged with manslaughter, and the St-Jérôme father was not.
I happened to be in court the day the Crown had a change of heart and abandoned the criminal charges. It was clear the guilt and grief was a more severe punishment than anything a court of law could inflict. There was no public interest in prosecuting a man who would live the rest of his days with his daughter’s death on his conscience.
Mercifully, the police took a more humane approach with the St-Jérôme man 13 years later. And first responders to the scene of Friday’s heartbreak seem to be reacting with similar compassion. Montreal police said they would wait to question the devastated parents, who were both taken to hospital in a state of shock.
There may indeed be circumstances when charges are justified, like if a parent deliberately leaves a child in a broiling vehicle. It’s so dangerous that to knowingly do so is inexcusable. But in most cases, police and prosecutors have come around to the phenomenon brought to light in a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post piece: these are more often horrifying accidents, lapses of memory, the calamitous consequence of fatal distraction in an ever faster-paced society.
Some, but not all authorities, that is. The Burlington, Ont., man is due in court Thursday. But for what purpose?
No loving and responsible parent needs to see another put through the spectacle of a trial to serve as a deterrent. What is needed is a way to prevent these senseless deaths from happening over and over.
The advocacy group kidsandcars.org — which features a gallery of some of the American youngsters who have died in hot vehicles — notes that the first step for parents is to recognize this could happen to anyone, including them.
“Plan for forgetfulness,” the organization urges. Check the back seat every time you arrive at your destination. Leave smartphones or a purse there as a lowtech memory trigger.
The group is also pushing for high-tech solutions, like sensors that set off alarms in vehicles or carseats if a child is left behind. The Quebec coroner who investigated the death of the Montreal girl in 2003 made the same appeal to manufacturers and regulators then — and again following the 2016 drama.
Another mechanism that could help, at least in the case of children forgotten when their parents intend to drop them off at daycare, is electronic attendance monitoring. Many Quebec daycares use a staff-management system called Amigest to cut down on paperwork. Parents hand a special key to their child’s educator upon arrival and return it to a rack when they take them home. It’s set to send a text message if the child doesn’t show up and the parents haven’t called in to report an absence.
Preventing heatstroke deaths is certainly not Amigest’s purpose, but perhaps someday it could still alert an absent-minded parent to a potentially deadly oversight.
Rather than rush to judgment, we must use every means at our disposal to promote vigilance. No more children should have to die and no more families should have to suffer from a completely avoidable tragedy.
Plan for forgetfulness. Check the back seat every time you arrive at your destination.