Leaving Your Child In A Hot Car: “If You Think It Cannot Happen To You, You’re Wrong”

By this point in the summer, we’ve written more than a few times — unfortunately — about children who have died after being left in closed cars on hot days. While some cases point to parents deliberately leaving their children behind, the reason we keep writing about the dangers of doing so is because the reality is that it can happen to anyone.

We’re not alone — our esteemed colleagues at Consumer Reports are working hard to inform parents and raise awareness about the problem. With KidsAndCars.org reporting that 17 children have died as a result of being left in hot cars this year already, as of mid-July, it’s an issue that can’t be highlighted enough.

Along with Consumers Union, the public policy arm of Consumer Reports, we believe that research is needed to come up with new ways to prevent hot car deaths, possibly through technology that could be used by car manufacturers and/or the makers of car seats. If there’s an annoying beep that won’t shut up when you don’t have your seat belt on, why not a shrill alarm to ensure you don’t leave your child to swelter?

If you want to make your voice heard, you can sign a White House petition by KidsandCars.org to stop child deaths in hot cars. The petition seeks action from the Obama administration to make such innovations possible, by authorizing the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide financing for research and development of technology to alert drivers.

In the meantime, if you think you’re the best parent that has ever existed and would never, ever be able to forget your child, or that only bad parents with bad intentions would do something like that, well, you’re wrong. Watch the video below, because if you don’t believe us, maybe you’ll believe some of the families who have had experienced the tragedy of forgetfulness themselves.