It seems to happen every year when temperatures rise. Parents or others leave kids in cars or trucks, or youngsters climb inside a vehicle and then can’t get out. The result is predictably tragic: An increasing number of children — most often infants or toddlers — die every year after being trapped inside broiling vehicles where temperatures easily can reach 140 degrees or more.
This year promises to be no different. A meteorologist who tracks data on deaths to children trapped in hot cars reports that 18 children have died of hypothermia or heat exhaustion this year, with at least eight reported since June 13. That is the highest number of fatalities in the first half of the year since Jan Null began keeping records in the 1990s. The number understandably worries public health officials and safety advocates. It should.
The time of year when such deaths occur most often has yet to arrive. July is typically the deadliest month for kids trapped in hot cars and trucks. Given the current pace of heat-related deaths, officials worry that the year’s ultimate total could reach a record level.
The growing problem prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a consumer advisory warning parents and others that leaving kids unattended in or near a car or truck could have tragic consequences. The advisory is timely.
Since 1998, nearly 500 children across the nation — including some in the tri-state area — have died as a result of heat exhaustion in superheated cars and trucks. The number of deaths increased significantly in the mid-1990s when new safety laws required that children ride in the back seat, where they would be safer in case of an accident. An unintended consequence of those rules, though, was that kids in the back seat — especially little ones who might fall asleep or be unlikely to protest when left alone — are more likely to be forgotten when adults leave their vehicles.