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Salt Lake Police cited a couple for leaving their toddler in a hot car yesterday while they went shopping at a department store. By the time police responded, the child was perspiring profusely. He'll be OK, but already this summer, we've seen tragic consequences from children left in cars.
The issue of children in hot cars has received a lot of attention. To avoid that, some parents are leaving their children in cars with the keys in the ignition and the air conditioning on. One mother has seen it so often, she called police, then she called us.
Samantha Collier was in a store parking lot when she saw two cars idling with young children left alone. One mother returned within minutes, but Collier said the other mom was in there for five to 10 minutes. She says she stayed there and watched the little girl play with the steering wheel, climb in the back seat, play with the locks. "It's concerning me because it's really dangerous," she said.
Collier used to work for child protective services, so she admits safety is always on her radar. "When you leave to run an errand, you think it's going to be a short time, and two seconds turns into five minutes, and something really tragic can happen in just a few minutes," she said.
We looked for ourselves to see if this is really a problem. Sure enough, we saw children left in a running car. It was a short time, and to their mom's credit, when she found the store had what she wanted, she returned to get the youngsters.
Not far away, we saw another child in a car with a baby in the back.
We also met some parents who took their baby with them. The child's too young, the day too hot, they said. But when we asked them what age is old enough, the father said, "Maybe two, two and a half years, then I would feel safe."
Most cities have their own policies on the age of a child; many of them prohibit children being alone in the car under age 12.
Shopping is definitely more difficult with car seats to unbuckle and hands to hold, but Collier urges us all to think twice before leaving children alone in any car, hot or air-conditioned. "No errand is so important that you should endanger your kids," she said.
To help families Stay Safe, I found a device that hooks on to your baby's car seat, and the other end goes on your key chain. If you walk away from your car, without the baby, it will start beeping. It's just another tool to help remind parents not to leave their children in a car.
