5-Year-OId Child Dies After Being Left in a Car Amidst Extreme Texas Heat

On Monday, a 5-year-old kid died inside a hot automobile in Harris County, Texas, becoming the sixth youngster this year to die from the dangers of heat while locked in a vehicle.

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CANADIAN, TX - JULY 28: Cattle rest at a watering hole in a pasture July 28, 2011 near Canadian, Texas. A severe drought has caused shortages of grass, hay and water, in much of the state, forcing ranchers to thin their herds or risk losing their cattle to the drought. The past nine months have been the driest in Texas since record keeping began in 1895, with 75% of the state classified as exceptional drought, the worst level.

Left Behind

The Houston-area child was mistakenly left in the car for several hours as his family prepared to celebrate his 8-year-old sister's birthday, according to KWTX. The mother of the boy thought her daughter and son had departed the automobile on their own after returning from a shopping excursion, but the youngster stayed in the vehicle.

On Monday, temperatures in Harris County reached more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, making even a brief trip in an enclosed car risky. Even in milder weather, cars may quickly heat up, and children have suffered and died from heat exhaustion in cars.

"It's vital for families to understand that it doesn't have to be 90 degrees outside for a child to suffer from heatstroke inside of a vehicle," Amber Rollins, head of the national non-profit group Kids and Car Safety, previously told AccuWeather. "We've had children die in hot automobiles on days when the outside temperature was in the 50s or 60s, believe it or not, and that's because a vehicle acts like a greenhouse, allowing heat to pour in through the windows, trapping it inside, and it's an oven that warms up very rapidly."

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Scorching Temperatures

(Photo : Photo by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)
377804 08: A dead fish lies near a lake September 6, 2000 just outside the city of Dallas, Texas where the water from the lake used to cover the spot were the fish lies. . Much of Northern Texas has been dried out and is in desperate need of rain. The U.S. Climate Prediction Center estimates North Texas needs 6 to 9 inches of soaking rain to restore most subsoil to the norms of 1961-1990.

Temperatures in the automobile may quickly escalate to unsafe levels; according to Kids and Car Safety research, 80 percent of the temperature increase happens within the first 10 minutes.

An Unfortunate Incident

Since 1990, over 150 children have died in hot automobiles in Texas, the state with the greatest frequency of hot car deaths per capita in the US. According to data compiled by Kids and Car Safety, over 1,000 children have died while trapped in hot cars in the United States since 1990, with another 7,300 surviving.

According to data from the National Safety Council and San Jose State University, the majority of such deaths of children under the age of two were caused by ordinarily attentive caretakers simply forgetting the youngster in the vehicle.

"Unfortunately, this is yet another example of why it is critical to have effective occupant detection technology as standard equipment in all vehicles as soon as possible," said Janette Fennell, the founder, and president of Kids and Car Safety. "Every day that we delay advancing these cost-effective detection technologies means children are at unnecessary risk of dying."

Hyundai and Kia offer rear-occupant warning systems in select models that can identify whether someone has been left in the backseat after the car has been switched off. Parents may buy gadgets to remind them to check their car's backseat.

Reminders from the Authority

Law enforcement authorities and other professionals advise parents and caregivers to take precautions to avoid leaving a child or family pet inside a hot vehicle, particularly during the summer months.

They recommend the following:

•  Make it a practice to always open the back door while parking to guarantee no one is left behind. Place an item you can't start your day without in the backseat to reinforce this habit (handbag, wallet, briefcase, employee badge, laptop, phone, etc.)

•  If additional people are in the car with the driver, clearly declare and clarify who is removing each kid.

•  Place a plush animal or diaper bag in the front seat as a visual reminder or message that the child is present.

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