Hot car deaths remain below average, but experts urge more caution
By
Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather senior editor
Published Jul 20, 2020 3:56 PM EDT
As the dog days of summer continue, KidsAndCars.org director Amber Rollins stresses the importance of keeping children safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the dog days of summer drag on, the number of pediatric hot car deaths in the United States remains below average, a result attributed the COVID-19 pandemic since people are staying home more often, experts say.
Still, as some feared, June and July have brought an uptick in heatstroke fatalities, and child safety advocates continue to urge people to be mindful of ways to prevent such an easily avoidable tragedy.
Only two deaths were reported through the end of May, but as is common in the summer, the number of deaths has risen since June 1, with eight additional fatalities reported in six different states.
Data compiled by Jan Null, the founder of NoHeatStroke.org, shows that July is the deadliest month for pediatric hot car deaths in the U.S. From 1998-2019, 196 fatalities have been reported in July followed by 190 in August and 174 in June.
Null’s website also tracks how the pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths happen. About 54 percent of deaths occur when a child is accidentally left in the car, but the second most common occurrence is when a child gains access to a car when they slip out of a parent or caretaker’s supervision. That happens about 25 percent of the time during these types of cases.
“The impact of people staying at home and not being in as many situations where they might forget a child in a car has certainly had an impact [on the low number of deaths],” Null told AccuWeather in June.
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Despite the recent uptick, the U.S. is still below the average of hot car deaths for mid-July. The advocacy group KidsandCars.org says historically there have been 18 fatalities by this time of year and for a full year, the average is 39, or one death every nine days.
A record 54 pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths occurred in 2018, followed by 53 in 2019. According to Kids and Cars’ data, 2006 and 2015 were the only years with fewer than 30 reported deaths since the year 2000.
As of July 20, 2020, nine hot car deaths of children have been recorded in the United States. (LPETTET / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
The most recent tragedy unfolded this past Saturday, July 18 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when a 4-year-old boy died after wondering away from his parents and getting into an unlocked vehicle. Police were called to the home around 6:30 p.m. local time, after the child was found unresponsive, according to KWTX. Temperatures reached 96 F on Saturday in Wichita Falls. Texas has reported the most hot car deaths with 137 since 1991, per Kids and Cars.
That follows on death that occurred a week earlier on July 11, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, when a 3-year-old girl gained access to a vehicle on her own and couldn’t get out. Similar tragedies unfolded in Oklahoma in June and in Texas in April. With people not traveling as often during the pandemic, and kids not in school or other normal childcare programs, there’s an increased risk for kids to gain access to the car on their own.
“As parents and caregivers focus on several priorities at once during these unprecedented times, supervision can be more difficult than ever. Young children climb into unlocked cars and trunks to play, but they can’t always get out. With fewer parents and caregivers traveling to work, and fewer children attending childcare and preschool, it is imperative that all drivers, even those without children, lock their vehicles so children cannot gain access,” Kids and Cars said in a statement following the incident in Kentucky.
Amber Rollins, the director of Kids and Cars, told AccuWeather that in the past couple of weeks her organization has been tracking an uptick in non-fatal heatstroke incidents in children being left alone in vehicles.
“That could be due to the increase in people getting out and about and taking their kids with them more, but we definitely need to be careful when the temperatures are this hot,” Rollins said.
One of the dilemmas that has arisen during the pandemic involves trips to supermarkets. Some parents have had to face the risk of whether to bring their child with them into the grocery store, and potentially expose them to the coronavirus, or leave their child in the vehicle, even with the air conditioner on. Rollins was emphatic that keeping a child in the car on their own is never an option and cited grocery delivery or pickup services as ways to work around that predicament.
“A car is not a babysitter, and [children] are never safe alone, not even for a minute,” she said.
Temperatures on a 90-degree day outside can jump to over 133 degrees Fahrenheit inside an idle vehicle within the span of an hour. And in just 15 minutes, the temperatures can reach 116 F, according to No Heat Stroke.
Rollins said there are a number of ways to take preventive action to keep kids safe and away from vehicles, including remembering the phrase “look before you lock.” Parents and caregivers should routinely practice opening the backdoor and checking the backseat every single time they exit a vehicle.
“We want to encourage people to do this for two or three weeks, and it’ll become a habit, then you don’t even have to think about doing it," she said.
Once inside the home, car keys should be placed in a spot where kids can’t get them. Rollins noted that people should always lock their car even if they don’t have kids of their own in case they live next to neighbors with small children. Other safety measures include teaching kids who are old enough to honk the horn or turn on the vehicle’s hazard lights. One of the main points of emphasis safety groups say is reminding kids that it’s never safe to play around or in cars.
Rollins said that the biggest battle she and her colleagues face is getting the message across that tragedies like pediatric heatstroke deaths can happen to anyone. "That would never happen to me," is something she hears people say frequently.
“This does happen to loving, responsible highly educated parents and I truly believe, after working on this issue for 16 years, [and] getting to know all these families that this has happened to, this happens to the most wonderful parents out there,” Rollins said.
Legislation that would help improve technology in cars to reduce the amount of vehicular heat stroke deaths took a big step this month. The Hot Cars Act is a federal bill that will mandate affordable technology to detect the presence of a child inside a vehicle to become standard in all motor vehicles, according to Kids and Cars. The U.S. House of Representatives passed language from the Hot Cars Act in early July as part of a broader transportation bill called the Moving Forward Act. The legislation will next head to the Senate.
Rollins said the legislation has been in the works for over a decade and getting it through the House was "huge."
"We're really, really hopeful that coming off of the two worst years in history for the most children dying in hot cars, that we're going to get this through this year and come together and protect our children," Rollins said.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Weather News
Hot car deaths remain below average, but experts urge more caution
By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather senior editor
Published Jul 20, 2020 3:56 PM EDT
As the dog days of summer continue, KidsAndCars.org director Amber Rollins stresses the importance of keeping children safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the dog days of summer drag on, the number of pediatric hot car deaths in the United States remains below average, a result attributed the COVID-19 pandemic since people are staying home more often, experts say.
Still, as some feared, June and July have brought an uptick in heatstroke fatalities, and child safety advocates continue to urge people to be mindful of ways to prevent such an easily avoidable tragedy.
Only two deaths were reported through the end of May, but as is common in the summer, the number of deaths has risen since June 1, with eight additional fatalities reported in six different states.
Data compiled by Jan Null, the founder of NoHeatStroke.org, shows that July is the deadliest month for pediatric hot car deaths in the U.S. From 1998-2019, 196 fatalities have been reported in July followed by 190 in August and 174 in June.
Null’s website also tracks how the pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths happen. About 54 percent of deaths occur when a child is accidentally left in the car, but the second most common occurrence is when a child gains access to a car when they slip out of a parent or caretaker’s supervision. That happens about 25 percent of the time during these types of cases.
“The impact of people staying at home and not being in as many situations where they might forget a child in a car has certainly had an impact [on the low number of deaths],” Null told AccuWeather in June.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Despite the recent uptick, the U.S. is still below the average of hot car deaths for mid-July. The advocacy group KidsandCars.org says historically there have been 18 fatalities by this time of year and for a full year, the average is 39, or one death every nine days.
A record 54 pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths occurred in 2018, followed by 53 in 2019. According to Kids and Cars’ data, 2006 and 2015 were the only years with fewer than 30 reported deaths since the year 2000.
As of July 20, 2020, nine hot car deaths of children have been recorded in the United States. (LPETTET / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
The most recent tragedy unfolded this past Saturday, July 18 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when a 4-year-old boy died after wondering away from his parents and getting into an unlocked vehicle. Police were called to the home around 6:30 p.m. local time, after the child was found unresponsive, according to KWTX. Temperatures reached 96 F on Saturday in Wichita Falls. Texas has reported the most hot car deaths with 137 since 1991, per Kids and Cars.
That follows on death that occurred a week earlier on July 11, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, when a 3-year-old girl gained access to a vehicle on her own and couldn’t get out. Similar tragedies unfolded in Oklahoma in June and in Texas in April. With people not traveling as often during the pandemic, and kids not in school or other normal childcare programs, there’s an increased risk for kids to gain access to the car on their own.
“As parents and caregivers focus on several priorities at once during these unprecedented times, supervision can be more difficult than ever. Young children climb into unlocked cars and trunks to play, but they can’t always get out. With fewer parents and caregivers traveling to work, and fewer children attending childcare and preschool, it is imperative that all drivers, even those without children, lock their vehicles so children cannot gain access,” Kids and Cars said in a statement following the incident in Kentucky.
Amber Rollins, the director of Kids and Cars, told AccuWeather that in the past couple of weeks her organization has been tracking an uptick in non-fatal heatstroke incidents in children being left alone in vehicles.
“That could be due to the increase in people getting out and about and taking their kids with them more, but we definitely need to be careful when the temperatures are this hot,” Rollins said.
Related:
One of the dilemmas that has arisen during the pandemic involves trips to supermarkets. Some parents have had to face the risk of whether to bring their child with them into the grocery store, and potentially expose them to the coronavirus, or leave their child in the vehicle, even with the air conditioner on. Rollins was emphatic that keeping a child in the car on their own is never an option and cited grocery delivery or pickup services as ways to work around that predicament.
“A car is not a babysitter, and [children] are never safe alone, not even for a minute,” she said.
Temperatures on a 90-degree day outside can jump to over 133 degrees Fahrenheit inside an idle vehicle within the span of an hour. And in just 15 minutes, the temperatures can reach 116 F, according to No Heat Stroke.
Rollins said there are a number of ways to take preventive action to keep kids safe and away from vehicles, including remembering the phrase “look before you lock.” Parents and caregivers should routinely practice opening the backdoor and checking the backseat every single time they exit a vehicle.
“We want to encourage people to do this for two or three weeks, and it’ll become a habit, then you don’t even have to think about doing it," she said.
Once inside the home, car keys should be placed in a spot where kids can’t get them. Rollins noted that people should always lock their car even if they don’t have kids of their own in case they live next to neighbors with small children. Other safety measures include teaching kids who are old enough to honk the horn or turn on the vehicle’s hazard lights. One of the main points of emphasis safety groups say is reminding kids that it’s never safe to play around or in cars.
Rollins said that the biggest battle she and her colleagues face is getting the message across that tragedies like pediatric heatstroke deaths can happen to anyone. "That would never happen to me," is something she hears people say frequently.
“This does happen to loving, responsible highly educated parents and I truly believe, after working on this issue for 16 years, [and] getting to know all these families that this has happened to, this happens to the most wonderful parents out there,” Rollins said.
Legislation that would help improve technology in cars to reduce the amount of vehicular heat stroke deaths took a big step this month. The Hot Cars Act is a federal bill that will mandate affordable technology to detect the presence of a child inside a vehicle to become standard in all motor vehicles, according to Kids and Cars. The U.S. House of Representatives passed language from the Hot Cars Act in early July as part of a broader transportation bill called the Moving Forward Act. The legislation will next head to the Senate.
Rollins said the legislation has been in the works for over a decade and getting it through the House was "huge."
"We're really, really hopeful that coming off of the two worst years in history for the most children dying in hot cars, that we're going to get this through this year and come together and protect our children," Rollins said.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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