Keeping babies safe: babies left in cars

I don't know....I guess I'm more judgemental, but I just don't understand how ANYONE forgets they have a child in the car with them, even when they go to sleep.

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I think sleep deprivation has a lot to with it. After a long string of near sleepless nights, I once left my infant son in a shopping cart -- with the groceries -- got into my car, and drove away.

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I was just reading about another child car death -- 19 this year in the U.S.

If I don't buckle my seat belt, my car lets me know. If I leave my door ajar, my car lets me know. If I leave my baby in my car unattended, my car does nothing. That is, to be kind, COMPLETELY WRONG.

http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/2005/07/deadly_silence_.html

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there are numerous reports of trapped-child car deaths every summer.

our society has typically gone easy on adults who injure or kill children under their care in this way - the sentiment is usually that the parent has "suffered enough" through the loss of the child, so it is cruel to hold them legally responsible for their neglect. the fault really lies with not advanced enough technology, the mitigating circumstances of the caretaker's difficult childcare role - anything other than focusing on the choices and actions of the caretaker.

yet accidental killing is normally not so easily forgiven by the law when it occurs between two adults. courts frequently recognize that an adult's death is accidental but convict and levy a sentence lesser than murder based on the negligence or other bad choices of the killer, even in light of difficult circumstances the killer may have been in. note also that the law punishes many other kinds of parental negligence. but has there yet been a case of a parent even temporarily losing custody of their other children, or being forbidden to transport children in their vehicle, when one dies under their care in this way?

why the double standard? it could be that the young children's lobby doesn't have a very loud voice. it could be that at some level, perhaps healthily, society doesn't place the same value on a young child that it does on a mature, functioning adult. perhaps it's a reflection of the lawlessness of the road in our car-obsessed culture - it was many years into the auto age before drunk driving was recognized as a punishable offense, we don't punish the idiots who drive and talk on cellphones, and we allow drivers to view dvd and television. these actions threaten everyone on the road.

in light of all this, why do trapped-child caretakers keep getting cut slack?

some statistics and policy discussion at http://hhd.org/hhdnews/hhdstories/fs_03_2005.asp

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It's called an accident. A new parent can succumb to "out of sight, out of mind," as we see these news reports every summer and winter. To liken these parents to people "who drive and talk on cellphones" indicates you think this is an issue of simple neglect. It isn't.

Faulting the caretaker does nothing to prevent future deaths. A forgotten child is just that, forgotten. An accident. Slamming down on the caretaker isn't a deterrent because the act wasn't intentional.

The answer lies in car manufacturers mustering up as much concern about forgotten babies as they already have for drivers who don't buckle their seat belts or leave their headlights on when exiting a vehicle.

There are simple adaptations to make that will save dozens of lives every year... but not until we stop blaming the parents, and begin demanding common sense features for our automobiles.

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