“What is up with all these stories over the last few weeks of children dying in hot vehicles? Are the parents really that stupid?”
I can think of at least two answers:
1. Things like this simply went unreported in the past.
2. People really are now that stupid.
I am now old, have lived many years including pre-air conditioned times in a hot climate, and have no relatives, friends or neighbors who had such lapses.
I conclude that taken as a whole, Americans are trending down. Common sense is in decline.
Of course my father was born in the same cabin as his mother, not hospitals like my siblings and my wife’s siblings.
We have become far to tolerant of stupidity. Punish it more.
I agree! I watch JEOPARDY every day. The questions are getting easier every year, because we are all being dumbed down
I assure you the percentage incidents of this type of thing are the same every year. I am in my forties and can remember this sort of thing happening when I was a child.
The difference is that back then we had NO 24/7 news outlets, smart phones, twitter and social media whose entire purpose is to run everyone blood pressure up all the time with the look at me, or look how stupid, evil that one is.
People make mistakes. If an investigation shows that the incident was an accident, what purpose would be served if we incarcerate the person. They are already suffering incredibly.
I did a lot of driving around with my uncle when I was young. He went to various businesses, and I stayed in the car. But my uncle was a fan of vintage cars (he restored quite a few,) and refused to own anything more recent than World War II. Those cars had no power locks, power windows, or anything else. I could always roll a window down, or open the door and exit, even if the door was locked from outside (which it wasn't.) It may be that modern, highly automated cars simply don't let you exit if you don't have the keyfob or know to reach for the driver's door and press a certain button.
I’m thinking this sort of thing didn’t happen when I was younger, in the days before cars were air-conditioned. In those days, crime wasn’t as rampant as it is today, and cars would become so hot after sitting in the sun, you didn’t have air conditioning to cool them off, so you left the windows open. Also, fewer people had cars and took public transportation more often.