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Technology Could Help Prevent Hot Car Deaths
Today U.S. Representatives from Ohio, New York and Illinois introduced the Helping Overcome Trauma for Children Alone in Rear Seats Act (HOT CARS Act of 2016, H.R. 6041), a critical piece of legislation that would prevent children from being needlessly killed and injured when left alone in vehicles. The HOT CARS Act would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to issue a final rule within two years for a reminder system to alert the driver if a child is left unattended in a vehicle. “Every year, dozens of children die when left in vehicles – one child every nine days,” said Rep. Schakowsky (IL). “These are horrible, preventable tragedies. The technology exists to prevent these deaths.
HOT CARS Act of 2016 Introduced Today Will Prevent Child Heatstroke Deaths
Today, U.S. Representatives Tim Ryan (D-13th OH), Peter King (R-2nd NY) and Jan Schakowsky (D-9th IL) introduced the Helping Overcome Trauma for Children Alone in Rear Seats Act (HOT CARS Act of 2016, H.R. 6041), a critical piece of legislation that would prevent children from being needlessly killed and injured when left alone in vehicles. The bi-partisan effort has already received widespread support from more than fifteen of the nation’s leading public health, consumer and safety organizations, as well as an expert in neuroscience and the brain memory system, along with families who have lost their child or were seriously injured due to child vehicular heatstroke. “My heart breaks when I think of the 37 children whose lives are cut short each year because they were trapped in a hot vehicle. The unfortunate reality is that even good, loving parents can get distracted. Studies have shown that this can happen to anyone, anywhere.
Why Do We Prosecute Some People Whose Children Die In Hot Cars, But Not Others?
Alexandria Fire and EMS officials participate in a demonstration of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles during a news conference to launch the "Look Before You Lock" campaign at the Campagna Center at George Washington Head Started August 17, 2012 in Alexandria, Virginia. 23 children in the United States have already died from hyperthermia this year after being left in hot cars.
Child heat deaths: Thorny issue, few fixes
On a hot Sunday in July, a father in Mississippi tried to coax his 3-year-old daughter into learning how to release the buckle on her car seat. The preschooler couldn't figure it out. So he tried to get her to learn how to open the back door on her own. That didn't work either. "She just couldn't do it, which is terrifying to me," said Lawrence Patihis, a memory researcher at the University of Southern Mississippi. Patihis had become concerned about his daughter after hearing news of the spike in heat-stroke deaths in children left behind or trapped in cars. Safety experts are pushing regulators and the auto industry to come up with technological solutions to help solve the problem of pediatric heatstroke in cars. But it has been hard to get momentum on the issue in large part because the public blames parents for being irresponsible rather than seeing the issue as one that could affect anyone.
Forgotten Children: Why do parents keep leaving their kids in hot cars?
TEXAS LEADS THE NATION IN HOT CAR DEATHS WITH MORE THAN 110 CASES SINCE 1990, INCLUDING FIVE THIS YEAR ALONE.
