Hot car deaths, or vehicular hyperthermia, are among our worst nightmares as Child Passenger Safety Technicians. Every year, on average, 38 children die in hot cars. 2018 was the worst year on record — 52 preventable deaths. The two main causes of death are: The child is unintentionally left in the car The child unknowingly
Every year in the US, an average of 37 children perish when they’re left in vehicles. Most of those are left in those vehicles by accident. A portion of those children are left in those vehicles on purpose — say Mom goes into a store or something like that. Another portion of those 37 deaths happens when preschoolers go back into an unlocked car to get a toy they’ve left behind and find themselves trapped in a car they can’t open.
I had the privilege of meeting with Research Meteorologist in the San Jose State University Department of Meteorology and Climate Science Jan Null, founder of http://noheatstroke.org/. Jan’s work with vehicular heat stroke began in 2001 when a local news station called him for a comment on the tragic death of a 5 month old boy who was left in the car.
This summer, we’re making vehicle heat stroke awareness our top priority. We’ve shared some of the specifics around hyperthermia in our longer article. We’ve put together this handy, shareable guide to help get the word out!
It’s about halfway through summer and sixteen children in the United States have lost their lives to hyperthermia due to being left in a vehicle. It’s utterly heartbreaking every time a new one hits the headlines because it is so very preventable. Think it could never happen to you? Think you could never, ever, forget about your child in a car? Think again.
