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America Sets Grim Record for Kids Dying in Hot Cars
Filed under: In The News
America hit a new record number for children who died in hot cars last year. Credit: Getty Images
Reggie McKinnon of Cape Coral, Fla., probably thought that, too.
He took Payton, his 17-month-old daughter, to a morning doctor's appointment last year and rushed back to work. At the end of the day, as he put his laptop in his SUV, he found her dead in her car seat.
The Florida Sun-Sentinel reports McKinnon shared his story, his voice shaking with emotion, with a crowd at Florida Atlantic University last week.
"How could someone forget their child?" he asked. "That only happens to people who are uneducated, who drink, drug addicts. Not me."
Complacency is deadly, he added.
"Don't be fooled into thinking that this couldn't happen to you," he said. "Unfortunately, I did."
America hit a new record number for children dying in hot cars last year, the Sun-Sentinel reports.
According to Safe Kids USA, 49 children, ages 2 months to 6 years, died from being left in hot cars last year. That brings the total death toll since 1998 to 495.
The Sun-Sentinel reports Florida contributes more than its share to those numbers, consistently ranking the first or second worst state for kids dying in cars.
The worst thing, of course, is that all these deaths could have been avoided.
"Deaths of children in hot cars are something we know how to prevent," Meri-K Appy, president of Safe Kids USA, tells the Sun-Sentinel.
Appy's organization has launched a national public awareness campaign called simply "Never Leave Your Child Alone in a Car."
It asks parents to place Post-It notes or other reminders in their cars to remind them there is a baby on board. Parents also can have a friend or relative call and ask them as a reminder. Do whatever it takes, Appy tells the newspaper.
After all, as one of the campaign's slogans says, "75 degrees and sunny is no way to die."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
5-05-2011 @ 3:17PM
Jana said...Can the car makers not make a device that you can turn on when you are in the car with a child, to remind you when the car turns off, the same as your keys in the ignition/headlights are on????? Would that not be really easy???? Why not? I can't imagine what these children go thru with such a grim, awful death, as well as the parents who live to remember.....
Reply
5-05-2011 @ 4:23PM
Kyle Johnson said...Safe Kids USA agrees that advanced technologies may help prevent child heat stroke deaths in vehicles and Safe Kids urges child seat manufacturers and automakers to continue research and development of these technologies.
However, the near-term emphasis must remain on education and awareness as it will take years - perhaps decades - for technology solutions to become widespread. We need to continue the awareness campaign and educational efforts that make sense for the 250,000,000 vehicles on U.S. roads today.
Kyle Johnson
Safe Kids Worldwide
5-05-2011 @ 4:56PM
Jana again said...Why can't something be designed now that you can plug into your cigarette lighter/power hookup that would buzz, so no matter how old the car is, you can have a device that would buzz when the car is turned off???? Then you don't have to wait for car technology to catch up? Children's lives are at stake here!!
5-27-2011 @ 2:02PM
JILL said...There is now a wireless car seat alarm available from Suddenly Safe ‘N’ Secure Systems. (you can goggle it)
I use it for my grandchildren and my daughter doesn’t move her car unless she has it on her safety seats. She said she doesn’t worry as much when her husband or baby sitter takes the kids in the car. Very affordable! DON'T WAIT FOR CAR MANUFACTURES TO MAKE ONE, I was told not enough children have died to merit the cost....tell that to the almost 500 parents who have lost their children.
Reply
5-27-2011 @ 2:01PM
JILL said...There is now a wireless car seat alarm available from Suddenly Safe ‘N’ Secure Systems. (you can goggle it)
I use it for my grandchildren and my daughter doesn’t move her car unless she has it on her safety seats. She said she doesn’t worry as much when her husband or baby sitter takes the kids in the car. Very affordable! DON'T WAIT FOR CAR MANUFACTURES TO MAKE ONE, I was told not enough children have died to merit the cost....tell that to the almost 500 parents who have lost their children.
Reply