As you drive to work, you are likely thinking about many things. Things like what emails to return, deadlines ahead, what to have for supper and household tasks to be done.
In the mix of your busy and stressful morning, did you remember to drop off your child at child care?
More than 1,054 children have died mostly due to heatstrokes in hot vehicles and at least another 7,300 survived with varying types and severities of injuries since 1990, the year Kids and Car Safety began collecting such information.
Vehicular heatstroke occurs because of multiple factors. The temperature inside a car can heat up very quickly. A vehicle with windows cracked can reach up to 125 degrees in minutes. And 80% of the increased temperature occurs in the first 10 minutes.
Deaths due to vehicular heatstroke have occurred in temperatures as low as 60 degrees. Also keep in mind that a child’s body temperature can overheat three to five times faster than an adult’s.
Safety tips in and around cars
Follow and share these safety tips because it could save a life.
Back seat: Put something in the back seat so you have to open the back door when leaving the vehicle — cell phone, employee badge, handbag, etc. Every child should be correctly restrained in the back seat.
Stuffed animal: Move it from the car seat to the front seat to remind you when your child is in the back seat.
Backup plan: Ask your babysitter or child care provider to call you within 10 minutes if your child hasn’t arrived on time.
Look before you lock: Every time you park your vehicle, open the back door to make sure no one has been left behind. Even when you are parked in your own driveway, lock your car to keep little ones from climbing in by themselves.
It’s important to remember that on any day, leaving a child in your car could happen to you. Take a moment and decide on at least one tip from above that you’ll start using today, so you don’t become a statistic.
Learn more
- From infant to teen: Proper car seat for each age
- Keep your family cool and safe in the summer heat
- Poison safety tips for parents with small children
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Posted In Children's, Family Medicine, Healthy Living, Parenting
