As summer comes to an end, it doesn’t mean your car is any safer for your children. We’ve blogged about making sure to check before reversing to avoid backing over a child, but what about the dangers of leaving a child unattended in a car? As school starts up, balancing busy work schedules and your children’s extracurricular activities can make for hectic days.
But what happens if you have young children to take along with you to your older child’s activities? Maybe they’re napping in the back, or maybe you forget that they’re still in the back of their car seat? Eight children died within one week of heatstroke from being left in cars at the beginning of August, reports USA Today. Twenty-eight have died so far in 2012.
What happens if it’s a warm sunny day and you accidentally forget your child in your car? Did you know that a child’s body temperature rises five times faster than an adult’s? It doesn’t need to be a hot day for injuries to occur, however. With temperatures as low as 18 degrees Celsius, it can take less than five minutes for a car to heat up and cause injuries to a child left inside. And with the warm summer weather extending into September, be extra alert as you settle into new schedules.
KidsAndCars offers these tips to help keep your children safe:
- Leave your car locked – kids will play in unlocked cars.
- Teach kids to honk a car horn if they’re ever trapped inside.
- If travelling with children in the back, put a reminder, such as a phone, beside them so you remember to go in the back.
- Don’t leave children alone in cars.
For More Information:
- Children In Vehicles, Department of Geoscience SFSU
- Heatstroke, KidsAndCars
- Heatstroke, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
