Data: Child hot-car deaths now exceed last year's total

Data: Child hot-car deaths now exceed last year's total

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SALT LAKE CITY — Child hot-car deaths in the United States now exceed last year’s historic low of 24.

So far this year, 26 children age 4 or younger nationwide have died after being left in a hot car.

According to data from 1998 to 2014, gathered by San Jose State University meteorologist Jan Null and displayed on noheatstroke.org, the average number of child hot-car deaths each year is 37, with 2010 topping the data at 47.

“We’re sort of on a normal track, which is discouraging to the (national safety experts) because the trendline was down,” Null said.

Last July, there were 11 children’s hot-car deaths to date — the lowest in the data set.

Across all states, demographics and circumstances show “(t)he one common thread is, it can happen to anybody,” Null said.

Unlike other health problems in the U.S., Null said all of these deaths are preventable. The solution, he said, is greater awareness of the danger of allowing children to be left in cars.

“Children should never be forgotten in a car, allowed access to or be intentionally left in a car,” Null said.

Locally, the Safe Kids Salt Lake County Coalition, along with coalition partners Health Choice Utah and Primary Children’s Hospital, held an outreach event last month in South Jordan.

“We are proud of our parents because there have been no deaths in Utah so far,” said Mary Romo, Salt Lake County Safe Kids Coalition coordinator and Injury Prevention coordinator for the Salt Lake County Health Department.

Romo said two of what she called “near misses” are examples that people are catching on in Utah.

Joyce Kim of Health Choice Utah Outreach and Wellness waved signs reminding parents of the danger of leaving children in a vehicle. She said the additional effort to keep unattended children out of cars is worth it.

“I am a parent and a pet owner. I just couldn’t fathom losing a child or a pet by negligence,” Kim said.

Null noted that although the issue affects people nationwide, this year all but four child hot-car deaths have happened east of the Missouri River. Null speculated that many months with hot temperatures in the West this summer may have helped raise awareness.

While sunlight warms slightly the air and windows of a car, it can heat car surfaces up to 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and heat the air effectively by convection and conduction, according to noheatstroke.org.

Related

A study that Null co-authored found that internal temperatures, on average, can reach 19 degrees higher than the outside temperature in 10 minutes, 29 degrees in 20 minutes and up to 50 degrees higher in one to two hours.

In Salt Lake City, the average highest daily temperature ranges between 92 and 94 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning that the inside of a car could easily reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in just minutes.

Heat stroke

Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library defines heat stroke as “the result of long, extreme exposure to the sun, in which a person does not sweat enough to lower body temperature.”

Noheatstroke.org says that “(c)hildren's thermoregulatory systems are not as efficient as an adult's and their body temperatures warm at a rate three to five times faster than an adult’s.”

The studies were conducted measuring the temperature of a dark blue mid-size sedan with medium gray interior over the course of 16 days, when ambient temperatures ranged from 72 to 96 degree Fahrenheit.

Different circumstances

The data for 1998 through 2015 shows the majority of hot-car deaths were the result of caretakers accidentally leaving children in a vehicle, but that was not the only circumstance.

  • 356 children, 54 percent, were "forgotten" by caregivers
  • 189 children, 29 percent, were playing in unattended vehicles
  • 111 children, 17 percent, were intentionally left in vehicles by adults
  • 5 children, 1 percent, died in unknown circumstances While the numbers are concerning, Null believes media coverage of outreach and awareness efforts has helped raise awareness, and more people are either calling 911 or intervening directly.

“That is a great second line of defense,” Null said. “If the incidents occur and we get some saves out of (those actions), it is always a plus.”

Null encourages people to call authorities before directly intervening. But he also noted that people who do act are rarely punished — sometimes rewarded — and some states have expanded Good Samaritan laws to included hot-car intervention.

“Make ‘look before you leave’ a routine whenever you get out of the car,” noheatstroke.org says. Noheatstroke.org provides additional safety recommendations.


Chris Larson is a soon-to-be-graduated BYU journalism student and new father. He enjoys covering whatever impacts people's lives: politics, community events or breaking news. Reach him at cdlarsonpressemail@gmail.com.

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