Hot car deaths, it could happen to your family

The number is 24. It’s not a lucky number; it’s the number of children who have died in hot cars so far in 2018. It’s already more than halfway to the average yearly number of deaths, 37. That’s a total of 767 children who have died due to pediatric vehicular heatstroke since 1998. (Numbers are as of 7/16/18)

“We all know how hot cars can get, what you may not know is it can happen to ANYONE, even you,” said Tracy Whitman, Program Coordinator of Maryland Kids In Safety Seats. “If you have ever driven to work and had no recollection of the drive there, if you have ever walked into a room and forgotten why, you can forget a child in the car.”

The majority of these incidents are accidental, either something causes the caregiver to be distracted and forget the child in the car, or a child gets into an unattended vehicle and is not able to get back out.

“A change of routine is the biggest culprit,” Whitman continued. “Get in the habit of placing something in the backseat that forces you to open the back door or reach back to the rear seat. Whatever you need when you get to work, that’s what you put back there – work ID, lunch bag, tie, handbag, backpack – anything to make you check the back seat.”

Other ways to help avoid a hot-car tragedy:

• Seat your younger (or quieter) child behind the front passenger seat, where he’s most likely to catch your eye.
• Keep a teddy bear or other stuffed animal in the car seat when it’s empty. When you put your child in the seat, move the animal to the front passenger seat, to remind you that your baby’s on board.
• Ask your child’s babysitter or daycare provider to always phone you promptly if your child isn’t dropped off as scheduled.
• Make a habit of always opening the back door of your car after you park, to check that there’s no child back there.
• Never assume someone else — a spouse, an older child — has taken a young child out of her seat.
• Lock your car when you park it to keep kids from playing in it and becoming trapped.

Since it can happen to anyone, we can all do our part to keep kids safe. Look for kids in vehicles in parking lots as you walk or drive through them. “If you see a child unattended in a vehicle, call 911 immediately,” Whitman added, “each second counts.”

Even Walmart is trying to do its part. Stores across the country have a sign posted on all of their entrances: LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAVE. Please make sure children are not left unattended in vehicles.

For more information about keep children safe it cars call the Garrett County Health Department at 301-334-7730 or 301-895-3111.

By Diane Lee, Public Information Officer, Garrett County Health Department