can you believe this?? 36 kids die in hot cars this year

[mommy2three]

DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- It happens with alarming frequency: A parent or day-care worker, often busy or distracted, leaves a helpless child in a vehicle with the windows rolled up, and the youngster dies in the heat.

So far this year, at least 36 children in the United States have died under similar circumstances.

In once such case last week, it was about 100 degrees in Dallas when 8-month-old Jordan Thomas was forgotten inside a day-care center's sport-utility vehicle. Inside, the temperature soared to a blistering 130 to 140 degrees.

Experts and advocacy groups say such deaths usually result from forgetfulness rather than any deliberate disregard for the child's safety.

"The screaming message here is that for any period of time, you don't leave a child unattended in a car," said Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology at San Francisco State University who tracks such deaths.

The number of reported heat deaths is higher than ever, Null said, increasing from 25 when he first began recording figures from news reports and child advocacy groups in 1998. There were 31 in 1999, 28 in 2000 and 34 in 2001. He described the figures as conservative estimates, saying many cases probably go unreported.

What many people do not realize is just how quickly cars and trucks can become stifling death traps. Null said interior temperatures can soar to 105 in less than a half-hour on a 72-degree day. Cracking the windows only slows the heat buildup.

Janette Fennell, founder and president of the advocacy group Kids And Cars in Kansas City, Kansas, said most cases of heat deaths involve either new parents or those who have recently changed their driving routine.

"The lion's share are loving, caring, devoted parents. We're talking educated people who love and adore their kids," Fennell said. "It says a little bit about the society we live in today. We're rushed, we're hurried; one little change can mean the difference between life and death."

Two weeks ago, a professor's 10-month-old son died after being locked in a car at the University of California at Irvine for more than three hours while temperatures were in the 90s. The youngster's father, Mark J. Warschauer, was described as a doting parent by neighbors. No immediate charges were filed.

Experts say a few simple precautions could drastically reduce such tragedies.

Fennell suggested placing reminders in the car, such as a bag of diapers in the front seat or a purse or briefcase in the back with the child.

"Put something that you have to have today in the back seat, where it's going to force to you check the back seat. Eventually, it becomes a habit," she said.

Fennell said fewer than 2 percent of such deaths result from people deliberately leaving a child in a car.

Last week, a mother from Springdale, Arkansas, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter for allegedly leaving her 3-year-old daughter to die in a hot car. Police said they believe Mary Christina Cordell, 36, was playing an Internet game for two hours while her daughter was in the car.

And last year in suburban Detroit, a woman was charged with murder for leaving her two children, 10 months old and 3, to die inside her sweltering car in 100-degree heat while she had her hair and nails done and shopped for a dress. Tarajee Maynor, who is awaiting trial, initially told police that she had been abducted and raped and returned to her car to find her children.

According to the Web site of Fennell's group, nine states -- California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington -- make it illegal to leave a child alone in a vehicle. In California, for example, anyone caught leaving a child 7 or younger alone in a car can be fined $100.

Jordan died Wednesday after a driver for T&T Tots Day Care & Learning Center picked him up from his home in the morning but forgot to drop him off at the day-care center. That afternoon, the driver found him dead in a carrier seat toward the back of the vehicle. Police have not charged the unidentified driver.

Texas guidelines require constant supervision of children at day-care centers, Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services spokesman Geoffrey Wool said, adding that the centers must keep a list of all children during field trips and other outings involving vehicles.

Wool said he did not know if the driver in Jordan's case had such a list.



http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/08/26....ap/index.html

[AmyMCGS]

I don't know whether I'm more sad for those poor kids or mad at the idiot adults who left them in the hot vehicles!!! I'm leaning towards mad, though...

That daycare bus incident really bothers me- can you imagine how those poor parents must feel? I can't imagine driving a bus of kids and not checking to make sure they all went into the building.

A friend of mine got a lecture from security at a local shopping mall once after she left her kids in the car while she literally ran up to the side of the building to put her credit card payment into the slot. Her kids were older-- maybe 8 and 6?-- and were left alone no more than two minutes. The security guy told her she could be charged with child endangering for that. (Although as a security guard he probably did not have really had the power to do that??) She told me she's never left them in the car alone since then.

[mommy2three]

i think it makes me mad too. i am guilty of this partially. sometimes when i got to the post office ina neighboring SMALL town, i leave the kids in the van. i leave it running with the air conditioner on and a movie on in the tv/vcr combo thingy. i park RIGHT in front of the building so i can see EVERYTHING from the BIG window. i literally run in and out of the building. i would NEVER leave them in it with no AC. i would also NEVER leave them in it anywhere else. THAT IS JUST PLAIN STUPID.

[Darlene]

That's 36 too many.

[PrairieRose]

It's a terrible fact. Makes you sick to your stomach, doesn't it?
Misty, dh left our 2 oldest in the pickup once to run into the post office (has huge windows right there where you can see too) and one of them put the truck into reverse! Luckily he got to them before anything terrible happened but things can happen sooooo quickly.

[mommy2three]

oh my goodness lisa. that's scary. the only ones i leave are mason and morgan. they are in their carseats. but madison on the other hand, would probably drive around the block. i know, it's not funny. i shouldn't do it.

[mylittle4]

The majority of these cases are not someone running into a post office or such they are adults who actually forget the kid is in the car, come on. How do you forget such a thing. When I was a new parent at the very young age of 16 even I had a constant fear of where is my baby. How do you forget that they are in the car. This makes so mad. From what I have read this is a horribly painful way to die. And the daycares OMG It just makes me soooo thankful that I can stay at home with my children and not have to have the worry of this happening to them while I am at work. This happens on school busses also. It is more rare but it does happen. I can't imagine the pain of those parents whose children died while at a daycare. This is one thing that really strikes a cord with me. A few years ago 2 little girls were left in a car while the father and his friend went hunting for arrowheads! The girls both died, the older one who I think was about 3 had pulled all of her hair out. They said it was from the excruciating headache that the heat caused. How horrible. I think maybe a nation wide effort to place signs in parking lots and at store entrances would help and also a lot of people could put bumper stickers on their cars. Is your baby still in the car? If we saw these images and signs everywhere maybe it could cut down on this. Ok Sorry for the novel.

[Guest1]

That's awful....."doting parent" or not, these folks need to be flogged....anything that I need to do, I can take my kiddos right along with me - running into the market, 7-11, picking up a scrip from Wal-Mart, anything...if I can't take my kiddos with me, they can stay at home with a sitter.....things like this make me soooo mad.....

[mommy2three]

great idea angelee.

[Gabe]

5,000 elderly folks in France died this summer because of dehydration. The health system could not support them.

:-(

[simplemom]

That is so sad. For the 36 kids and the 5,000 old people who died this summer...I heard of that...that is unacceptable!