Child advocates urge back-seat alarms as 2 die in Arizona

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Child advocates urge back-seat alarms as 2 die in Arizona

By SALLY HO
Today

A proposed law that would require carmakers to build alarms for back seats is being pushed by child advocates who say it will prevent kids from dying in hot cars.

The law also would streamline the criminal process against caregivers who cause the deaths — cases that can be inconsistent but often heavier-handed against mothers.

The latest deaths came in Arizona on triple-digit degree days over the weekend, with two baby boys found forgotten in vehicles in separate incidents.

More than two dozen child and road safety groups are backing the U.S. Senate bill introduced last week aimed at preventing those kinds of deaths by requiring cars to be equipped with technology that can alert drivers if a child is left in the back seat once the vehicle is turned off. It could be a motion sensor that can detect a baby left sitting in a rear-facing car seat and then alert the driver, in a similar way that reminders about tire pressure, open doors and seat belts now come standard in cars.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/cfafac869e5d4ff3b8404795151f372e/Child-advocates-urge-back-seat-alarms-as-2-die-in-Arizona

[madaboutharry]

1. I really don't understand how someone can forget a child in the car.

I lived in Arizona and I would worry it was too hot even with the air conditioner on. I just don't get it.

[lunasun]

2. Yes These both sound like cases of people forgetting . The second could be seniors who could

have been given responsibility they couldn't handle. Somehow they got mixed up and left the baby in the car.
I remember a relative who wanted an older relative to care for her kid while she worked. Everyone in the family was like No she almost needs someone to take care of her don't do that to her or your baby.


Police say 1-year-old Josiah Riggins was in the car for hours Saturday, discovered dead only after his father drove roundtrip, twice, between their suburban home and a Phoenix church to drop off the mother and a sibling.

Zane Endress, who was 7 months old, died Friday in Phoenix after being left in the car in the driveway at home, as his usual daycare drop-off routine was lost by his grandparents.

[Adrahil]

3. Me neither... NT

[Skittles]

4. no one can, until it happens to them

[EllieBC]

6. WaPo had an article about this years ago!

It's fascinating and comes down to the primitive parts of the brain vs. the more sophisticated parts and memory function. I'll try to go find it.

[lunasun]

7. I will check back thanks sounds interesting

[EllieBC]

9. Found it!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html?utm_term=.48e93143cab8

[lunasun]

14. Wow so much in that link . People read . Also sad as the cases , is the fact the NASA product

with the key chain was shunned due to liability issues which when you think about would be a big monetary problem if it ever failed and resulted in a death
Yes also besides the brain issues the mere fact now days that the baby is in the back and turned around as an infant to me I now realize is a big factor .
Car rides are one of the best ways sometimes to lull a baby to sleep.
Sleeping baby, out of sight, then add the cheese hole occurances mentioned or fatigue provide a perfect formula for this , not bad parenting or stupidity.
Almost seems like the turned around back seat due to airbags in my mind now plays a bigger role than I hand previously thought about.
Thank you for your time and I hope others get to see this information instead of just saying people shouldn't have babies if they can't take care of them etc. like the comments section the article highlights from various newspaper reports

However those cruel comments the psychologist points out are a factor of thier own brain's working

Humans, Hickling said, have a fundamental need to create and maintain a narrative for their lives in which the universe is not implacable and heartless, that terrible things do not happen at random, and that catastrophe can be avoided if you are vigilant and responsible.

[Nailzberg]

8. My parents forgot about me everywhere.

Although that may have been intentional.

[cynatnite]

11. I nearly did it years ago during winter in Montana...

She wasn't even a year old. I was going to work and running late. She was in her car seat.

I was getting out of the car and that's when I saw her.

It was truly frightening and devastating.

She's an adult now with her own child and it still haunts me to this day.

[Thunderbeast]

10. This is over-reach

Adding sensors and alarms to vehicles will add to the cost of EVERY vehicle to mitigate for rare negligence by a few dangerous parents. There are thousands of ways that parents can harm their children. Society CAN NOT assume responsibility to mitigate all of them. While sensational stories emerge every year about this tragic negligence, we might spend those dollars on other strategies that save more lives. Vaccinations and outreach for children's preventative health care would probably save more lives in a more targeted fashion.

Let's all keep a hammer in the trunk of our cars and smash windows of hot cars with kids in them.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Oh, God.

I hate those fucking stories.

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. Tie a string to the babie's foot.

Tie the other end to your wrist. Then you can't get out without the baby.