2018 Hot Car Deaths

[Blackcat31]

I wonder if we know international statistics of hot car deaths? Are people in other countries as negligent or 'forgetful' as this? Would they have repercussions in place for something like this?

Just curious. :confused:

This is from 2014...

"There have been high-profile cases in other parts of the world too, notably in Australia and in Israel, where three deaths last summer made headlines.

The numbers in northern Europe appear to be proportionally lower than in the US, but that's hardly surprising given the cooler climate than the southern US states. Between 2007-2009, there were 26 cases of heatstroke in France and Belgium, including seven fatalities, according to Child Safety Europe. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents could recall no cases in the UK.

"I've seen numbers out of Europe and the total is not as high as in the US but there are not as many drivers or cars so it is very difficult to compare," says Null.

Cases in the US began to rise in the late 1990s, as children's car seats moved from the front to the back due to the dangers posed by airbags."

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28214266

[Josiegirl]

Thank you for the information and the links too. Very interesting. I agree there are many variables at work and it makes it hard to compare. But I have a sad feeling the US is up there in numbers.

[Blackcat31]

Between 2007 and 2009, there were 26 such cases of hyperthermia in France and Belgium, including 7 fatalities. 54% of the parents had intentionally left the child in the car, 46% had simply forgotten to drop the child off.

In Israel between 2004 and 2008 there were four fatal cases, and in 2008 alone, 19 non-fatal cases.
Netherlands, Iceland and Hungary have all reported recent fatal cases.
In the United States an average of 36 children die from hyperthermia each year, for a total of 468 deaths over the last 12 years.

http://www.childsafetyeurope.org/publications/info/factsheets/children-in-cars.pdf

[Blackcat31]

Companies are using various technologies in an effort to lower the number of hot car deaths that occur every year.

Waze, a navigational application available on Android and iOS, has a child reminder notification which alerts a driver to check the back seat once the vehicle reaches its destination. The alert can be customized to receive reminders for more than one child, as well as pets.

[mommyneedsadayoff]

Ok, so I am going to throw this in here, even if it has nothing to do with it. In the 90's there was a huge push for childcare reform, help for working parents and low income parents and I think the Childcare and Development Fund (CCDF) was enacted. I am not saying that low income or subsidized care means people forgot their babies. What I mean is that the normalcy and expectation that daycare would be included in a child's first five years became VERY acceptable (and subsidized by the government). It progressed the movement that once a child was expected, the parents started looking for care, or other people to watch their baby while they worked. If you were low income, you would get help with that cost, making it more accessible, and if you had money, you could pay for the finest "preschool" in the neighborhood. You could probably afford a nanny, but as Nannyde has pointed out, a nanny is in your home and the kid is still around and it cost a lot more, so I think it was the 90's when people realized they could outsource their parenting to daycare or head start. I think early headstart was in the mid 90s as well. Anyway, I am sure it happened before and was just not reported, but but I DO feel that lack of parental involvement must be in the equation. It certainly cannot be a one size fits all scenario, but I have found that many cases involve a parent not normally having the child, so they forget they are there. For example, if you only have your child on on the weekend, you become trained to having them on the weekend(waking early for pancakes on saturday), and during the week, you allow them out of your mind much more often. They don't factor into your dinner plans or if you need to run errands, you can just go and not think about their needs. (didn't divorce peak in the 90s?) Absence does not make the heart grow fonder, imo. It makes you more comfortable in your solitude. It is also important to note that the internet took hold in the 90's. Chat rooms, video games, ect. And now we have screen ADDICTION. Can you imagine an alcoholic parent giving their child a drink to calm down? But they hand over their smart phone with no issue. Maybe we are seeing the symptoms of a highly addicted screen populace. Anyone watch the movie trainspotting? They get so high out of their minds, they forget the baby in the crib and it is dead when they come back into reality. A recent survey in 2017 said Parents (with kids 8-18) spend an average of 9 hours and 22 minutes a day on a screen (tv, computer, phone). If you factor in 7 hours for sleep, that means that over two thirds of their life (if not more) is spent in a fantasy world. Facebook is fantasy, instagram is fantasy, ect. It is addicting and while I cannot put this all together exactly, I feel there is a pretty large contribution between technology and screen addiction, as well as the normalcy of having kids in daycare 10+hours a day. I mean, we are setting them up to be forgotten.

[Silly Songs]

I don’t have young children. ( my youngest is a teen), and I still check the back seat when I get out of the car. I KNOW no one is back there, but I look just in case some random child is sitting in my back seat ! 🙄

[Josiegirl]

Mommyneedsadayoff, you make some very valid points but I still have a hard time believing it is that easy to disconnect our brains from another living human being in the car. The one that keeps us awake during the night for feedings, the one we bring to the dr. for immunizations, and take for walks in strollers, we sing to them and cuddle them, we fantasize for months about what it will be like to be a parent and buy cute little baby clothes and fancy equipment. How can we so easily forget they're in the backseat? I will never ever understand it. Never.

Weren't they working on some kind of invention to use in a child safety seat that worked by feeling the weight of a child, or something? I thought they've been working on solving this problem for awhile now? You'd think with a country filled with smart inventive minds, something would be available for everyone.

[amberrose3dg]

Mommyneedsadayoff, you make some very valid points but I still have a hard time believing it is that easy to disconnect our brains from another living human being in the car. The one that keeps us awake during the night for feedings, the one we bring to the dr. for immunizations, and take for walks in strollers, we sing to them and cuddle them, we fantasize for months about what it will be like to be a parent and buy cute little baby clothes and fancy equipment. How can we so easily forget they're in the backseat? I will never ever understand it. Never.

Weren't they working on some kind of invention to use in a child safety seat that worked by feeling the weight of a child, or something? I thought they've been working on solving this problem for awhile now? You'd think with a country filled with smart inventive minds, something would be available for everyone.

I cannot believe this ie where we are. Needing a device to remind parents their children are there.

[Cat Herder]

30, now.

30 8/2/2018 El Reno. OK 90° Ryker Daniel Kolar 3 yr

[Blackcat31]

30, now.

30 8/2/2018 El Reno. OK 90° Ryker Daniel Kolar 3 yr

The Dad was arrested

http://www.news9.com/story/38809778/el-reno-father-accused-of-murder-after-sons-hot-car-death

https://kfor.com/2018/08/03/oklahoma-father-arrested-for-murder-in-connection-to-childs-death-after-being-left-in-car/

[Cat Herder]

I am glad they are implementing the same policy I have been using for a decade. It does help. The mother is still under investigation.

"Baby's hot car death is reason behind policy change at day care, owner says

That facility is now implementing a new policy.

It requires children be dropped off by 9 a.m. each morning.

If the day care is not notified about the child being absent, an automated text will be sent to the family.

“It's keeping us accountable as a day care. It's also keeping families accountable. Where is your child at right now? Where is your child at? Making sure that the kiddos are being taken care whether it's at home or whether it's here in our care, but we want to be a facility and make sure that the kiddos, when they're here, they are being taken care of,” co-owner Paula Montalvo said." - https://www.wlky.com/article/babys-h...-says/22640492

http://www.wave3.com/story/38810120/infants-hot-car-death-sparks-policy-changes-at-new-albany-day-care

[Cat Herder]

33, now.

33 8/11/2018 Cape Girardeau, MO 91° Girl 10 wks
32 8/10/2018 Emporia, VA 90° Dameer Curry 6 mo
31 8/8/2018 Goochland County, VA 93° Riaan Gondesi 17 mo

[Cat Herder]

"The call came in just after 12:30 p.m. from the child's mother. The mother was contacted by her son's daycare after he was not dropped off. The mother called the boy's father who had left him in the car seat.

The dad arrived at work around 9:30 a.m. and apparently forgot to drop him off at daycare.

Goochland County Sheriff James Agnew said the father was cooperative and said he had simply forgotten to drop the child off at daycare.

Both the child's father and mother called 911 at nearly the same time to report the child in distress.

"The mom had been contacted about 10 minutes earlier by the daycare wondering where her son was and if she intended to drop him off," Agnew said." - http://www.nbc12.com/story/38843268/...eft-in-hot-car

[Cat Herder]

"said she was taking her children to stay with various family members Friday before work when she got a call that led to tragedy.

"My youngest daughter's father calls and he said his mother wasn't going to be able to watch [one of her daughters]. That's what I believe threw me off," the mother of four said.

Curry said she arranged for one relative to watch her three oldest children.

After she dropped them off, she said she drove to her job at Domino's Pizza on Market Drive in Emporia -- forgetting to drop off her baby at another relative's home.

"My friend called me on the way to work and asked me about my oldest daughter, checking on her, and I just forgot all about dropping the baby off," Curry admitted.

Police believe baby Dameer was left in his mother's car about five hours, between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday." - https://wtkr.com/2018/08/13/emporia-...hot-car-death/

[Cat Herder]

35, now.

35 8/17/2018 Spring Hill, FL 94° Keyton O'Callaghan 9 mo
34 8/11/2018 Cape Girardeau, MO 91° Girl 10 wks
33 8/10/2018 Emporia, VA 90° Dameer Curry 6 mo
32 8/8/2018 Goochland County, VA 93° Riaan Gondesi 17 mo
31 8/2/2018 El Reno. OK 90° Ryker Daniel Kolar 3 yr
30 7/23/2018 New Albany, IN 90° Aiden Miller 3 mo
29 7/19/2018 Houston, TX 93° Raymond Pryer 3 yr
28 7/19/2018 West Haven, CT 79° Dusan Jenkins 4 yr
27 7/14/2018 Medina, OH 93° Girl 6 mo
26 7/13/2018 Pembroke Pines, FL 93° Eli Douglas Bird 17 mo
25 7/9/2018 Sweetwater, TN 87° Greg Puckett 3 yr
24 7/7/2018 South Sacramento, CA 95° Alejandro Lopez Jr. 2 yr
23 7/4/2018 Moniteau County, MO 95° Girl 5 yr
22 6/29/2018 Frankfort, KY 91° Calvin Hedges 3 yr
21 6/26/2018 Glendive, MT 81° Caleb Hopkins 2 yr
20 6/21/2018 Roseburg, OR 81° Remington Engler 21 mo
19 6/20/2018 Willits, CA 80° Chergery Teywoh Lew Mays 18 mo
18 6/19/2018 Kingsland, GA 92° Slade Edison Horne 7 mo
17 6/15/2018 Spartanburg, SC 91° King Trammel 18 mo
16 6/14/2018 Vancleave, MS 89° Kash Barhonovich 10 mo
15 6/9/2018 Crittenden, KY 95° Lillian Danielle Kerr 2 yr
14 6/8/2018 Raleigh, NC 87° Hakeem Mussa 7 mo
13 6/4/2018 Baytown, TX 91° Maria Solorio 9 mo
12 6/3/2018 Anderson, IN 90° Hannah Grace Miller 3 yr
11 5/31/2018 Pelzer, SC 85° Joe Avery James Lockaby 18 mo
10 5/23/2018 East Nashville, TN 90° Katera Barker 1 yr
9 5/18/2018 Andalusia, AL 91° Laila Marie Dees 4 yr
8 5/16/2018 Eagle Pass, TX 99° Girl 7 mo
7 5/15/2018 Shreveport, LA 91° Addyson Blackburn 6 mo
6 5/10/2018 Chesterfield, VA 83° Girl 5 mo
5 5/10/2018 Chesterfield, VA 83° Boy 5 mo
4 4/3/2018 North Charleston, SC 84° Jack Duggan 10 mo
3 3/26/2018 Superior, AZ 71° Lorenzo Michael Velasquez 2 yr
2 3/262018 Superior, AZ 71° Brooklyn Velasquez 9 mo
1 2/28/2018 Miami, FL 81° Damon Cruz 1 yr