Experts: Child deaths in hot cars result of forgetfulness (DUH, Alert!

DALLAS - It happens with alarming frequency: A parent or day-care worker, often busy or distracted, leaves a helpless child in a vehicle with the windows rolled up, and the youngster dies in the heat.

So far this year, at least 36 children in the United States have died under similar circumstances.

In Boise last month, a 10-week-old infant died of excessive heat after his mother forgot the baby was in her sport utility vehicle. The temperature that day was 105 degrees. The mother may face charges.

Last week, it was about 100 degrees in Dallas when 8-month-old Jordan Thomas was forgotten inside a day-care center's sport-utility vehicle. Inside, the temperature soared to a blistering 130 to 140 degrees.

Experts and advocacy groups say such deaths usually result from forgetfulness rather than any deliberate disregard for the child's safety.

"The screaming message here is that for any period of time, you don't leave a child unattended in a car," said Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology at San Francisco State University who tracks such deaths.

The number of reported heat deaths is higher than ever, Null said, increasing from 25 when he first began recording figures from news reports and child advocacy groups in 1998. There were 31 in 1999, 28 in 2000 and 34 in 2001. He described the figures as conservative estimates, saying many cases probably go unreported.

What many people do not realize is just how quickly cars and trucks can become stifling death traps. Null said interior temperatures can soar to 105 in less than a half-hour on a 72-degree day. Cracking the windows only slows the heat buildup.

Janette Fennell, founder and president of the advocacy group Kids And Cars in Kansas City, Kan., said most cases of heat deaths involve either new parents or those who have recently changed their driving routine. "The lion's share are loving, caring, devoted parents. We're talking educated people who love and adore their kids," Fennell said. "It says a little bit about the society we live in today. We're rushed, we're hurried; one little change can mean the difference between life and death."

Two weeks ago, a professor's 10-month-old son died after being locked in a car at the University of California at Irvine for more than three hours while temperatures were in the 90s. The youngster's father, Mark J. Warschauer, was described as a doting parent by neighbors. No immediate charges were filed.

Fennell suggested placing reminders in the car, such as a bag of diapers in the front seat or a purse or briefcase in the back with the child. "Put something that you have to have today in the back seat, where it's going to force to you check the back seat. Eventually, it becomes a habit," she said.

Fennell said fewer than 2 percent of such deaths result from people deliberately leaving a child in a car.

Last week, a mother from Springdale, Ark., was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter for allegedly leaving her 3-year-old daughter to die in a hot car. Police said they believe Mary Christina Cordell, 36, was playing an Internet game for two hours while her daughter was in the car.

And last year in suburban Detroit, a woman was charged with murder for leaving her two children, 10 months old and 3, to die inside her sweltering car in 100-degree heat while she had her hair and nails done and shopped for a dress. Tarajee Maynor, who is awaiting trial, initially told police that she had been abducted and raped and returned to her car to find her children.

According to the Web site of Fennell's group, nine states -- California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington -- make it illegal to leave a child alone in a vehicle. In California, for example, anyone caught leaving a child 7 or younger alone in a car can be fined $100.

Jordan died Wednesday after a driver for T&T Tots Day Care & Learning Center picked him up from his home in the morning but forgot to drop him off at the day-care center. That afternoon, the driver found him dead in a carrier seat toward the back of the vehicle. Police have not charged the unidentified driver.

Texas guidelines require constant supervision of children at day-care centers, Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services spokesman Geoffrey Wool said, adding that the centers must keep a list of all children during field trips and other outings involving vehicles.

What many people do not realize is just how quickly cars and trucks can become stifling death traps.

Now that's ridiculous. Is he saying that people who frequently enter a hot, stuffy car on a summer day and try to sit on its sizzling seats can't figure out that it's not a good idea to leave kids in it? Yeah right.

Are we that far gone as a society, that we remember our purse or briefcase and not our babies? We need to strategically place inanimate objects to remind us of our children? Again our standards for human responsibility are just a bit low.

You aren't a forgetful person, are you? People who have no trouble remembering things simply don't understand that memory works differently for different people. I can remember all sorts of details about things going back to when I was in my crib -- provided that I have some cue to remind me of what it is that I have to remember. Some people simply remember things spontaneously. I don't. I need a reminder. Once I have a reminder, I can often remember all of the details.

It is entirely possible, for example, for me to be thinking about my wife but to forget that I was supposed to call my wife and tell her something or that she asked me to stop at a store and buy her something because thinking about my wife didn't remind me of my need to go buy something. Several times in a row, when we were dating, she'd hand me some mail to mail at a post office that I had to pass while going home. Every single time, I'd get home, notice the mail on the seat, and then drive back to the post office and mail it. Even if I was thinking about my now-wife the whole drive home. Even if I left her thinking that I absolutely have to remember to drop off the mail. And I'm talking about a 10 minute drive here. I've also run out of gas a few times, have forgotten to eat dinner, forgotten to take my cell phone, and forgetten all sorts of other things.

It is entirely possible that these parents are thinking about their children, even as they forget about them and leave them in the car. They may be thinking that they already dropped them off in day care and may be thinking about picking them up or about something else and those thoughts simply don't trigger the person to remember that the child is in the back seat. Why? Because they don't expect the child to be there. This is why these accidents often happen after a change in routine (the parent doesn't remember that they aren't following their routine). It isn't so much that the parents aren't thinking about their child but they are assuming that their child is someplace else.

How can people forget such things? Because they think differently than you do. All people don't think the same way. There are plenty of things I find easy but other people don't. My wife does spontaneously remember things but she doesn't always remember the details of things that happened or books that she has read years ago like I can. Our memories have different strengths and weaknesses and we compliment each other because of that.

For forgetful people, putting your briefcase in the back seat is a good idea (I suggested the same thing myself in an earlier thread), not because a parent thinks more highly of their briefcase than their child but because carrying their briefcase is a part of their morning routine and having to get it from next to the child makes it difficult for them to miss the child sitting silently in the back seat if they forget to drop them off. It makes checking for the child an unavoidable part of their routine. Of course I'd agree that parents should make checking the car for a baby a part of their routine but that doesn't always happen.

I leave myself all sorts of reminders (I put tissues in front of the clock on my car to remind me to get gas when I notice I'm low, I put things in the way of my routine so I'll remember them, etc. For forgetful people, reminders are good. If you don't need them, you won't understand, but it has nothing to do with how much you care. I don't forget my wife but I often forget to do things for her. They are not the same thign. Trust me, I often hurt myself more than anyone else when I forget things and wish I didn't need reminders.

For living things like my cats, I double check and count (we have 5 cats -- and 4 more kittens at the moment) and I've noticed cats missing more quickly than my wife has because of my counts. I make thinking about where they are a part of my routine because I know they might die if they get in trouble. And I'll need to do that if my wife and I have children. But I'll also consider a tether, a beeping box, and alarm, or some other reminder, as well not because I expect to consider my child forgettable but because I don't trust my memory, even with things I do care about. You may think that's awful but it is less awful then forgetting a child in a car and I'm more interested in the lives of children that your approval of people's priorities.

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