Heat sparks warning on kids in cars

Five children have died this year in Texas after they were trapped inside scorching vehicles

As heat advisories mount across South and Central Texas, first responders are renewing their warnings about leaving young children unattended in vehicles: Don’t do it — even for a minute.

Tests show that when it’s 98 degrees outside, the inside of a closed vehicle can shoot to 118 degrees in 10 minutes. Heat stroke and death soon follow; babies and toddlers are at high risk because their bodies heat up three to five times faster than those of adults.

Five children have died in Texas after being left in hot cars this year as of Aug. 1; that already matches the total for all of last year. None were in the San Antonio area, but with temperatures expected to be above 100 every day this week and heat indexes up to 110, the potential for tragedy is pronounced.

“Do not EVER leave children alone in a vehicle,” emphasized Woody Woodward, Fire Department spokesman. “We must ensure that no child is left unattended in a vehicle, as even one tragedy is one too many.”

Of the five children who have died this year, four were in North Texas and one was in Galveston. Three were forgotten by their parents. One got into an unlocked car at a neighbor’s home unseen. Despite a huge search involving more than 200 people, the missing boy was found too late.

Texas has led the nation as the state with the most deaths of children in hot cars every year for the last two decades, for a total of 119 from 1998 to 2018, according to Jan Null, a San Jose State University professor who maintains detailed data on www.noheatstroke.org. A record was set last year with 52 deaths nationwide, he said.

But there’s hope.

Child safety advocates are supporting national legislation that would require automakers to build proactive safeguards into new vehicles. The HOTCARS Act of 2019 — Helping Overcome Trauma for Children Alone in Rear Seats — has been introduced in both houses of Congress.

The technology is out there, the advocates say.

There’s a carbon monoxide detector that finds a child’s or animal’s breathing, a weight sensor

to detect whether a child is still in the car seat and even a highly sensitive motion detector capable of recognizing a child’s heartbeat. Should any of these detect a child in the vehicle, they sound a chime in the vehicle, lights flash and/or a notification is sent to the owner’s phone.

General Motors has a reminder system in some of its vehicles that activates when the back door is opened, such as when a child is being loaded into a car seat. Once the vehicle reaches its destination and the engine is shut off, the system reminds the driver to check the back seat.

“There are a bunch of different systems out there,” said Amber Rollins, director of Kids and Cars, a national nonprofit focusing on child safety. “We get calls from inventors every day.”

For years, doctors, public health officials and child safety advocates have relied on public awareness to prevent hot car deaths. Frustrated by continuing infant deaths, they are now looking to technology and tougher laws to make a difference.

“We’ve been educating and raising awareness like crazy, and the number of fatalities is not going down,” Rollins said. “We truly believe education and awareness after 20 years is not enough.”

About half the deaths of children in hot cars are the result of caregivers who forgot them, according to the San Jose State study. About a fourth occur when a child gets into an unlocked vehicle and can’t get out.

In the absence of technological help, advocates urge parents and other caregivers to set up reminders. Leave your cellphone or purse in the back seat when you put your child in a car seat to force you to look back there. Put a stuffed animal in the car seat when it’s empty, and when you put your child in the seat, move the stuffed animal to the front seat as a visible reminder.

The point is to make “look before you lock” a habit, advocates say.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Create a reminder,’ but we need to make it a part of our routine,” said Jennifer Northway, director of adult and pediatric injury prevention at San Antonio’s University Health System.

The last child to die accidentally in a hot car in the San Antonio area was 6month-old Dillon Martinez in 2016. The child was supposed to be dropped off at day care by his father, who was running late for his job at a Walmart in Helotes. Police said the father forgot Dillon was in the back seat when he parked the car; he didn’t usually take the child to day care.

Police said the case was sent to the district attorney’s office, which concurred with an investigator’s ruling that the boy’s death was accidental.

When the National Weather Service posted a video on Twitter recently reminding people not to forget their children in a car, many people responded in anger, saying they would never leave their child behind.

But it’s that attitude that puts parents at risk of forgetting their children, Rollins said.

Changes in routine such as a new work schedule, running late for work or having to take the child to day care when you don’t usually do that, coupled with stress and sleep deprivation, can lead even the most responsible parents to forget a child in the back seat.

“Your brain doesn’t function the way that it normally would,” Rollins said. “We’ve got to be so aware of that and be honest with ourselves about the consequences and the indications of when you’re that sleepdeprived.”