Categories:
Latest News
Child advocates urge back-seat alarms as 2 die in Arizona
A proposed law that would require carmakers to build alarms for back seats is being pushed by child advocates who say it will prevent kids from dying in hot cars. The law also would streamline the criminal process against caregivers who cause the deaths — cases that can be inconsistent but often heavier-handed against mothers. The latest deaths came in Arizona on triple-digit degree days over the weekend, with two baby boys found forgotten in vehicles in separate incidents.
115 degrees in 10 minutes: The dangers of kids and hot cars
When the engine is cut and the doors are shut, your vehicle can turn into an oven. Every year, children die trapped in the backs of hot cars. In the last 27 years, nearly 800 children died in hot cars. In 2017, 23 have died so far across the country. Now, lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are pushing for change. Congress introduced the Hot Cars Act. It’s a bill aimed at forcing automakers to install rear seat alert systems on all new vehicles. The system would operate similarly to a seat belt reminder and ding if you cut the ignition and remind the driver of a passenger in the back seat.
Don’t Let Your Child Become a Hot Car Victim
Every year, an average of 37 children die from being locked inside a hot car in the U.S. Since 1994, 804 children have died from heat-related illnesses in cars, according to Kids and Cars, an advocacy center that conducts research on car-related dangers surrounding children. It’s heartbreaking—an unspeakable tragedy that could be avoided. When we hear stories of infants and toddlers dying in their car seats, while parents leave them unattended for hours, we think, “How could anyone possibly forget their child?”
Fatal Frontovers are Now Raising Concerns
With vehicles getting larger, it is becoming more difficult to see children in front of cars. Hundreds of children have lost their lives when drivers, often pulling forward out of a driveway, accidentally crush them. Kids and Cars call these kids of accidents frontovers. Eighty percent of frontovers involve larger vehicles and most accidents involve parents behind the wheel.
DCFS releases PSA announcement reminding to keep kids and pets safe in and around cars
In the summer, a car can heat up to 90 degrees in less than 10 minutes so it is never a good idea to leave a child alone in a car for any amount of time; and it is against the law in Illinois. “If you see a child in a hot car alone, dial 9-1-1 immediately,” says DCFS Acting Director BJ Walker. “Your sense of community and your intervention can help prevent a tragedy and save a life when minutes and even seconds matter.”
