Despite repeated efforts to alert parents and caretakers about the dangers of leaving children and infants in automobiles on even moderately warm days, deaths stemming from the problem continue in distressingly large numbers.  According to the safety advocacy group KidsAndCars.org, 49 vehicular heatstroke deaths have been reported this year in the United States, a single-year record in the two decades that a tally has been kept. Many of the deaths occurred when children were left inadvertently in parked cars, while others resulted when children played in unlocked cars.  Earlier this year we reported on this situation and the development of a warning device that would alert the driver to the presence of a child or infant in the back seat. Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, said at the time that her organization was proposing a requirement for a child-left-behind warning device to be attached to the next Transportation Department reauthorization bill.  “The transportation reauthorization bill hasn’t moved an inch,” said Ms. Fennell in an e-mail. “There have been several hearings, and we are hopeful that things will get moving in January or February.”  “We want a rear seat-belt reminder and a driver alert for children in back to be a provision in the actual language of the bill,” she wrote.  Ms. Fennell added that she hoped the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010, which is intended to create a center for vehicle electronics, software and emerging technologies within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, might provide some impetus for the development of child-left-behind reminder devices. However, that bill is intended to address a multitude of automotive safety issues, and its passage is far from imminent.
As public advocacy groups raise awareness of the dangers of leaving a child in a parked car on even moderately warm days, the year ends with an unfortunate record.