Several seconds of silence overwhelmed Janette Fennell when she was asked about the country’s latest hot car death involving a child earlier this week.
A 2-year-old girl was found unresponsive after being left in a car for about 14 hours outside her parents’ home in Prosperity, Florida on Tuesday, authorities said.
Deputies reportedly noticed the girl was warm to the touch. Paramedics said the toddler’s temperature was 107 degrees. Her parents now face charges of child neglect and possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
The tragedy was already the fourth hot car death in the United States this year.
“That’s four too many,” said Fennell, founder and president of Kids and Car Safety, an advocacy group, on Friday. “We’re not even in high season yet.”
As the hot weather begins to heat up across the United States, Kids and Safety has released three public service videos on what to do if you see a child alone in a vehicle, what happens when a child gets stuck in a hot car and how not to leave kids in a hot car. Each video outlines scenarios of what could happen if proper precautions are not taken and tips on how to potentially avoid a car death.
“The biggest takeaway is to never leave your kids alone in a vehicle,” Fennell said. “But we all know it’s not that easy.”
US sees fourth hot car death of 2023Florida mother and father charged in hot car death of baby girl left alone for 14 hours
The country’s first hot car death of 2023Alabama child dies in first reported hot car death in US of 2023; murder charge for the father
Total number of 2023 hot car deaths is in line with 2022 tally
With four burning car deaths in the United States this year, the United States is currently on pace with the total of 36 reported last year, Fennell said. Peaks in hot car fatalities typically occur during the hot summer months.
According to Kids and Car Safety, three other hot car deaths this year occurred in Atmore, Alabama on Feb. 27, Port St. Lucie, Fla. on March 6, the second in that state in 2023, and in Spring Valley, New York. May 9. The organization said all of the children involved were between the ages of 1 and 2 and they were all believed to have been unintentionally left in cars.
Overall, Florida is second in the nation behind Texas in child hot car deaths, Fennell said. Florida has recorded at least 111 child hot car deaths between 1990 and 2022, Fennell added. Texas has recorded 146 such deaths during the same period, according to the organization.
More than 1,054 children have died primarily from heatstroke in hot vehicles and at least 7,300 others have survived with varying types and severity of injuries since 1990, the year Kids and Car Safety began collecting this information. , said Fennell.
“Sometimes it’s not if, it’s just a matter of when,” Fennell said. “The real concentrated months are May to September.”
While the total of 36 children who died from hot cars last year is an increase from the COVID-19 pandemic years of 23 deaths in 2021 and 20 deaths in 2020, they are lower than the figures for 2019 and 2018, as 107 Combined children died from being in hot cars, Fennell said.
“We average about 38 to 39 hot car fatalities per year based on the historical data we have,” Fennell said. About 88% of all hot car deaths occur in children 3 years of age or younger, she added.
More pleas for death-in-drive legislationSafety advocates urge feds and automakers to do more to prevent hot car deaths
“It can absolutely happen to anyone”
One of the biggest perceptions of hot car deaths is that a lot of people don’t think it could happen to them, Fennell said.
“It can happen so quickly, to a good person or a bad person, there are too many examples to count,” Fennell said. “That’s our biggest challenge, that it could absolutely happen to anyone.”
Many parents or others who leave children in hot cars and die are not criminally charged, primarily due to a lack of criminal or malicious intent, Fennell said. She said the two main ways children die in hot cars are because children are left inside unknowingly or accidentally and children can get into vehicles without their parents or other adults. don’t know it.
Of the 170 deaths over the past five years, Kids and Cars could only confirm 19 convictions, Amber Rollins, a spokeswoman for Kids and Car Safety, told USA TODAY earlier this week.
“But even if they’re not convicted, it still ruins their lives, their reputations, their careers, their friendships, etc.,” Rollins said. “The ripple effect is difficult to quantify.”
Hope the legislation is on the way to help prevent hot car deaths
However, help could be on the way in the form of federal legislation.
The bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed in 2021 requires the US Department of Transportation to finalize a rule by November requiring new vehicles to be equipped with a system to alert drivers to check rear seats designated for children when the engine is cut.
But Fennell said she and other advocates aren’t so sure the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will meet its deadline. She urged Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg to quickly advance the ‘hot car’ provision in the Infrastructure Act.
Fennell said the law includes a provision that addresses hot car tragedies by requiring an “audio and visual reminder alert to check the rear seat” in new passenger vehicles. But Fennell said the provision does not specify the requirement for the system to detect a child alone in a vehicle.
Without detection, Fennell said a system would be inadequate. She said this reminder alert alone “isn’t enough” of what is needed to prevent hot car deaths and other injuries, “creating a false sense of security” for families.
Fennell said the current cost for rear seat detection is around $50.
“Every day this effective technology is not included in our vehicles, we are failing our children and their loved ones,” Fennell said. “We need to integrate this technology into vehicles to give us, our children, a chance.”
Last year, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group representing about 40 automakers and suppliers, said more than 150 vehicle models now have a rear seat reminder system as standard or optional equipment. . Equipment may include either end of trip reminder or occupant detection.
“He has to be in every vehicle,” Fennell said.
For its part, the alliance said participating manufacturers are committing to installing these rear seat reminder systems as standard equipment beginning September 1, 2024 or for model year 2025 vehicles.
Another key tip to possibly prevent hot car deaths
In addition to never leaving children alone in vehicles, Rollins told USA TODAY another key tip for parents and others is to place visuals in the front seat to remind them that a young child is in the back seat.
“Put the diaper bag in the front seat. Even better, parents can keep a stuffed animal in the back seat and whenever they put their child in the back, they can bring the stuffed animal to the back seat. ‘before,” Rollins said. “Do it every time and it’s much less likely to happen to you.”
Contributor: Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY
USA Today