SUMMERTIME REMINDER

By ALLEN G. BREED(AP)




This year of record temperatures has also led a record number of children dying in hot vehicles, according to a group that tracks such deaths.According to the Kansas-based organization Kids and Cars, 48 children have died of hyperthermia after being left or becoming trapped in a hot car or truck. The previous record of 47 was set in 2005, says Janette Fennell, the group's founder and president."I'm devastated," Fennell said Wednesday.The latest death was a 2 1/2-month-old girl who died Sept. 20 in Kingman, Ariz., after being left five hours in a car in 100-degree heat. Police say the girl's father forgot the baby was in the car, went inside the house and took a shower and nap.Fennell had waited until the results of an autopsy on two Kentucky brothers before declaring this a record year. The two boys, ages 4 and 6, died Aug. 6 after apparently climbing into their family's pickup truck, but the cause of death was not released until this week, Kentucky State Police Detective Scott Skaggs said Wednesday."Everything looks like right now that they got in the car themselves," Skaggs said. No charges have been filed in the case.Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology at San Francisco State University who also tracks these deaths, said it's hard to say why deaths spiked this year; there were just 33 deaths in 2009, which also was a hot year. He noted that the Kentucky deaths did not occur on a record hot day."I think from the small 13-year sample that we have that probably from a statistical basis, this is within the range of what you would expect," he said. "It's impossible, I think, to associate it with the weather totally. Is weather a factor? It's always a factor."Since 1998, an average of 37 children have died in the United States after being left in or becoming trapped in a hot vehicle. According to Fennell's statistics, Texas leads the nation with 13 deaths, followed by Florida with 5, and Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee with three each.Fall has officially begun, but that doesn't mean the end of hot weather — or of danger. Fennell has recorded hot-car deaths as late as December, and in every month except January. There were three car-related hyperthermia deaths in November of 2006, and four in October of 2008.And they don't just occur in the so-called hot states of the South and West. This year, children have died in hot cars in as far north as Maine, Wisconsin and South Dakota."My biggest worry is that we might break 50 this year," said Fennell. "And that's too much to think about."Such deaths have spiked since the 1990s, when laws began requiring that infants be strapped into rear-facing car seats in the back seats of vehicles to avoid air-bag injuries. Fennell said more than 40 percent of the children who died this way are less than a year old.An Associated Press investigation in 2007 found that criminal charges are filed in about half of these cases. Experts say leaving a child in a hot car is not always a sign of negligence, but is often the result of a distracted or sleep-deprived brain, or a sudden change in routine.Fennell and others recommend putting a cell phone, purse, briefcase or other item beside the car seat as a way of forcing the driver to remember there is a child in the vehicle. Her group and others have also been calling for regulations requiring automobile manufacturers to install alarms that would tell them when a child was left behind."We've been doing this for over a decade, trying so hard to get the word out and educate people about this issue," said Fennell. "It just shows that even with education, this is not getting any better. And it points to the need for some technology to help us prevent these most preventable deaths."

twinkletoe wrote:Tom, do we have a place to post deaths of children left in cars and those that drown?

I know abuse is up this year, breaking all records as the FBI predicted early in the year. They were saying the weather and economic conditions would cause a large increase in child abuse and child deaths.

Child drownings are also up this year.

I know many of the children left in cars or who drown are accidental. However, I think a large number of them are not accidental, even when classified as such by LE.

I don't believe in coincidences when a child dies. It is not a coincidence that these types of child deaths have also remarkably increased, as have child manslaughter and child murders.

I appreciate and share your concern, ye of the Toes that Twinkle. It would be a daunting task to add these cases, en masse, to our already burgeoning topics. I do scan these stories and post those that seem to have circumstances that are outside the realm of "accidental". Those do get filed along with occasional septic tank mishaps, bathtub drownings, toilet drownings and other "seemingly" innocuous modes.
Quite frankly, I do not think that any of them would be classified as accidental in my book. Somehow, a child got their hands on an unlocked car door, or the keys to the car, as in one recent case where a 4 and 5 yo killed their infant sibling by starting up the family van and running over mother and infant. Sorry Mom. As much as I empathize and mourn your loss, those keys were left where those young boys could get at them.
We had a tragic case in my neighborhood some years ago when a toddler girl died after being strangled by window treatment cords while Dad was outside cutting the lawn. He left the toddler under the care of her 5 year old brother. Sorry Dad, that's neglect. However, it was never classified as such to my knowledge. I believe LE takes a more lenient view of these cases, and may even overlook underlying factors, considering the loss of a child. Of course, the DA would have to prove negligence or malice and that might be an insurmountable task without witnesses. Remember, ALL unattended deaths of these children require an autopsy and if there were "other factors" charges would be leveled on the caregivers.

My apologies for the verbosity, in essence, no we do not currently have a special section that deals with these cases. Many find their way into the UNRESOLVED section until LE and/or the ME signs off as an accident.

I think you are right on Toesie!

I think so too!

PHOENIX - Here in the desert it gets really hot outside and so does your car.
The temperature in a car can rise 20 degrees in 10 minutes and 30 degrees in just 20 minutes.
If it's 105 degrees outside, that means it can reach 135 degrees inside a car in 20 minutes which feels like an oven.
A child left in a car accidentally will never stand a chance of survival with this kind of heat.
On
average there are 38 hypothermia deaths of children in vehicles a year
across the US. All of these deaths can be prevented. Here are a few
simple tips from the Phoenix Fire Department to help prevent this kind
of tragedy.

• Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle, even for a minute.
  
• If you see a child unattended in a hot vehicle call 911.
  
• Be sure that all occupants leave the vehicle when unloading. Don't overlook sleeping babies.
  
• Always
  lock your car and ensure children do not have access to keys or remote
  entry devices. If a child is missing, always check the pool first and
  then the car, including the trunk. Teach your children that vehicles are
  never to be used as a play area.
  
• Keep a stuffed animal in the car seat and when the child is put in the seat, place the animal in the front with the driver.
  
• Or place your purse or briefcase in the back seat as a reminder that you have your child in the car.
  
• Make "look before you leave" a routine whenever you get out of the car.
  
• Have a plan that your childcare provider will call you if your child does not show up for school.
  

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/weather/weather_news/hyperthermia-deaths-of-children-in-vehicles-can-be-prevented#ixzz1vmsnduyr