It's amazing, but every year children who were alone in a vehicle die. When summer comes, the risk of a child alone in a car suffering from hyperthermia or heat stroke is multiplied, for them it is always good to remember: Never, never leave your child alone in the car, not even for five minutes.
The Department of Geosciences at the University of San Francisco State collects statistics on these types of deaths in the United States, and they are shocking. Approximately 75% of deaths of children in parked vehicles occur because they have been abandoned, intentionally or not, inside the car.
What are these deaths due to? In 47% the child was forgotten by the adult; 25% happened because the child was playing in an unattended vehicle; in 21% the child was intentionally left in the vehicle by an adult; 7% of circumstances were not clear.
Intentional cases aside, many adults are not informed or dismiss the risks of this act, which include not only sunstroke or heat stroke, burns (sun radiation heats objects inside the car) but hypothermia, putting the vehicle in motion, staying locked if something happens to those responsible, the theft of the vehicle ...
Tips to avoid risks related to cars and children
These that follow are the tips that we must be clear to avoid any misfortune related to the abandonment or accidental closure of a baby or child in the car.
We should never leave a child unattended in a vehicle when it is hot or cold, even with the windows slightly or fully open. Hyperthermia or heat stroke can occur when the internal organs of the body reach a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. And a high temperature in the body can cause irreversible damage to the brain.
The temperature in a closed motor vehicle rises approximately 7 ° C in five minutes, from 10 to 15 degrees in half an hour. Let's think about what this means in times when heat squeezes. A temperature of 41 degrees can be deadly, because the superheated car works like an oven. In addition, we must bear in mind that a child's body heats up three to five times faster than that of adults.
If a child is locked in a vehicle unintentionally, you have to take it out of the car as soon as possible, even breaking a glass (away from the child) if necessary. If the child knows how the insurance works or how the car opens from the inside, he could do it himself, although it is not always a good idea to teach them why they can "practice" while we are running (however, many cars have safety systems so that this does not happen).
To prevent this from happening, when we are out of the car you must keep it locked at all times, with the insurance on, even when they are parked or in the garage and never leave the keys within the reach of children or use them as a toy.
Nor should they use the interior of the car as a playground. Nor should they play around cars, taking special care that they are never behind, or play with balls or skates around.
The rear seats must be in original position so that children do not access the trunk.
When they grow up, as part of basic road education, we have to explain the dangers of being trapped in the car, in the trunk ...
It seems incredible but it happens (and here we have talked about some case, and devices have even been invented so that it does not happen). A tip for don't forget that the baby is sleeping in the car It may be to put a doll in the passenger seat, in our sight. Or, on the contrary, put our bag or briefcase that we will need when lowering in the back seat next to the baby.
Always make sure that children (and all occupants, including pets) get out of the car once it has been parked.
We must never leave children unattended in a car, even to make a quick order, or because they have fallen asleep and do not want to wake them up, because as we are seeing it is a dangerous imprudence.
In short, we have to be well aware of the dangers of leaving a child locked in the car, especially with high temperatures, and act so that this never happens to us (and of course act if we see a child alone in a vehicle that is not ours).
Photos | Lars Plougmann and Rabble on Flickr-CC On Babies and more | How to avoid a heat stroke in babies and children, The heat has returned and cars are still dangerous, Forget the baby in the hotel
