SALT LAKE CITY — Unprecedented summer-like temperatures are prompting experts to warn parents about the deadly risks of leaving children in hot cars.
While the temperature inside a car may seem comfortable to adults, hot vehicles pose deadly risks to children and pets. According to the organization Kids and Car Safety, 40 children die on average in hot cars every year. These deaths can happen even on days with 60- or 70-degree temperatures.
"The temperature inside of a vehicle can reach deadly temperatures for a child in a short amount of time, even on a day when it's in the 70s outside," Amber Rollins said.
Rollins is the executive director of Kids and Car Safety.
"This is something that nobody thinks is going to happen to them. And a vehicle really is essentially a greenhouse. So it allows solar energy to come in through the windows, it traps that heat inside, and then the temperature rises rapidly. And when you combine that with the fact that a child's little body temperature rises 3 to 5 times faster than an adult, you have a recipe for disaster in a very short amount of time," Rollins said.
The majority of hot car deaths happen when a child is unknowingly left inside a vehicle.
Children can suffer from the effects of heat within minutes. Rollins said it is important to never leave a child unattended in a car under any circumstances.
Cracking the windows will not help keep the car cool. "It doesn't do anything to lower the maximum temperature reached," Rollins said.
"The reason for that is when that solar energy comes in through the windows, what it does is it bounces around kind of in a random pattern throughout the car," Rollins said. "And the chances of it landing in that little crack area as it bounces around are, you know, slim to none. And so that heat really just stays inside, and it has nowhere to escape. And so that's why cracking the windows just doesn't help."
Experts remind parents that leaving a child in a car can happen to anyone. To help remember, parents can put a stuffed animal on their lap every time their child is in the car. Move the stuffed animal to the passenger seat when taking the child out, and place it back on your lap when the child is back in the vehicle.
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