Add to this the fact that it is illegal to put a child seat in the front seat where you can see and be aware of them.
I'd like to know just how many accidents that law alone has caused. I'm guessing quite a few.
The human brain when distracted of fatigued sometimes doesn't keep up with us. Usually the end result is things like burning food, letting a tub run over, paying for items in a store then leaving them there, putting the salt in the refrigerator etc. If the brain gets distracted a cuing can be missed that you uncompleted doing something. It can be minor or very major but the brain processed it as a completed task. Stress can also factor in.
When I was a Toddler maybe a year old I took a trip out the front door and down the street. A neighbor about 8 houses down saw me passing by LOL. It too could have been tragic. Mom was distracted it may have been canning time or something.
People all of us get into a routine. I'm used to going places on a regular basis and often I find myself a good ways down the road headed toward the wrong place. Usually that miles turning around and heading in the right direction.
Let's remember something else here also. Most of us 50 and over were left in cars as kids. Of course we were old enough to roll the window down but we lived in a society where it was safe to do such.
Good point, I’ll bet if the damn government never came up with that law several children who are now dead would be alive today. Government knows best huh. But how tired would you have to be to forget your own baby is with you in the car?!