[GTO]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNDWN8KDVSM#t=379

Other Child Safety Threads:

Child safety & Safe driving

Child Seats

Helmets for Kids

School commute options

Kids sticking out of sunroofs!

Roadtrips with children

Preparing kids for travel

[bravo6]

PS: Applicable to pets as well. Don't leave them in a car parked under the sun. Cracking open the window doesn't help either. If you have to, leave the engine & AC running, but that introduces a whole other set of problems.

[arun_josie]

Here is a similar incident which happened in Chennai couple of years back. A 3 year old kid died after being left alone in the car for around 3 hours,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/8644122.cms

CHENNAI: A three-year-old child, left sleeping in the back seat of a car in Chennai by his parents, died three hours later due to suffocation and heat.

The family from Pallavaram on the outskirts of Chennai had travelled to the house of a relative inside the city to attend a funeral.

Police sources said 37-year old Niyamadullah, a leather merchant, and his wife Mumtaz Begum, 36, got out of the car at Thiruvika Nagar in north Chennai at 1pm, each thinking that the other had taken the child, Asmathullah, from the back seat.

The funeral, that of a cousin's child, was attended by a large gathering. The duo were separated for a long time at the function and they realised the child was not with either of them after about three hours. Police sources said the parents immediately rushed to the car on realising their mistake.

"Both of them asked each other about the child only after three hours. When they reached the car, they found him struggling for breath," said R Hari, assistant commissioner of police, Pulianthope . The child was taken to a nearby private hospital, from they referred him to government-run Stanley Hospital. The child failed to respond to the treatment and died, said police officials. The death was primarily caused due to exposure to heat due to a sharp rise in temperature inside the car.

Asmathullah was the youngest of Niyamadullah's three children. The body has been kept at Stanley hospital for the postmortem. The Pulianthope have registered a case of suspicious death.

[rahulsharma2008]

One of collegue got his 3 year old daughter locked into the car when he had stepped out from his maruti 800 at the petrol pump. Luckily for him, help was available in time and his daughter was saved from any harm that day. After that incident, I always make it a point to keep all the windows rolled down when my dog is there in the car and I have to get out to get something. Also ensure that I never leave my kid in the car no matter what. Also advice the same to all my friends and relatives about the dangers of suffocation and accidental locking by central locking systems.

[latentpotential]

In the US a rising number of similar incidents have led to a almost zero tolerance by people of such incidents.

Now, if most people will see a child or a pet in a car alone, in a parking lot etc. they will immediately call the local law enforcement or the closest authority, and ensure that the driver is provided a warning, and at the discretion of law enforcement, sometimes they get ticketed as well. Repeat offenders in the case of children face social services as well for counselling.

Hopefully if better driver education comes here in India, we may expect that such cases be curtailed, as the local law enforcement wont bother with such incidents.

[fine69]

Can someone help elaborate on what exactly goes down in the car when its locked in sun.

Because of the green-house effect does the oxygen start depleting? I mean there would be enough oxygen in the car for an infant to survive a couple of hours is what I think but I think there are other variables in play.

Also, does the temperature rise that much that it can kill an infant? I mean I've sat in my car in delhi heat after parking it in 45 degrees for a couple of hours and while it was damn hot inside, I'm not sure whether it was enough to raise the temperature of my body so much that I'd die.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by fine69

Can someone help elaborate on what exactly goes down in the car when its locked in sun.

Source

On a day that is just 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature [inside a car] can increase by 30 to 40 degrees in an hour, and 70% of this increase occurs the first 30 minutes.

Heat stroke may occur when body temperature passes 104 degrees Fahrenheit. That overwhelms the brain's temperature control, causing symptoms such as dizziness, disorientation, agitation, confusion, sluggishness, seizure, loss of consciousness, and/or death.

[ampere]

This is another news doing rounds. In western countries even laws don't allow kids being left in the car.

A lady was arrested for leaving kids in the car for attending an interview.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_5050356.html

[raksrules]

Originally Posted by fine69

Can someone help elaborate on what exactly goes down in the car when its locked in sun.

Because of the green-house effect does the oxygen start depleting? I mean there would be enough oxygen in the car for an infant to survive a couple of hours is what I think but I think there are other variables in play.

Also, does the temperature rise that much that it can kill an infant? I mean I've sat in my car in delhi heat after parking it in 45 degrees for a couple of hours and while it was damn hot inside, I'm not sure whether it was enough to raise the temperature of my body so much that I'd die.

I don't know if my logic is correct but as soon as you would have opened the car door, lot of hot air (heat) would have escaped and what you feel after you get in is sort of after effect which is still very hot inside. If this is true then it means that with doors locked and windows rolled down, the heat inside would have been far more.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by fine69

Can someone help elaborate on what exactly goes down in the car when its locked in sun.

I doubt if you have noticed towards the end of the video. It's the heat which got no way to escape. Just for the sake of the public, I'm attaching this snapshot from the video.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by bravo6

PS: Applicable to pets as well. Don't leave them in a car parked under the sun. Cracking open the window doesn't help either. If you have to, leave the engine & AC running, but that introduces a whole other set of problems.

This is all good and I'm aligned conceptually. But let's take a slightly practical view on this? I do this often - under a simple rule. I leave my son (now 3) in the car only for a two-three minute errand (like buying milk from the kiosk), and leave window sufficiently ajar (think three fingers wide), especially if he is really asleep.

I find it rather impractical to carry him out at every point for a short errand when he's sleepy.

I have done the car/AC running with the window slightly ajar (and taken just the car remote with me). Recently my son started getting curious with the gears and trying to jump into the driver's seat while I'm away - I stopped that.

Curious what do folks who strictly adhere to this belief do? Especially those who live in a simple nuclear family, without the support of elders or even a maid.

I'm open to changing my mind - but somehow I don't think it is a serious concern for short errands (2-3 mins) esp when the child is sleepy. Its another matter that every shop you go, there's chocolates / toys hanging off the shelf and the demands start.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by thoma

I doubt if you have noticed towards the end of the video. It's the heat which got no way to escape. Just for the sake of the public, I'm attaching this snapshot from the video.

I did go through that. What I'm trying to figure out is whether its just heat or does the oxygen also deplete in any way. I mean is it just the heat or something else along with it? And even for heat if the body temperature rises to 41 degrees (when it turns fatal) then that means that the car's interior temperature has to be way above it, isn't it. I'm just trying to get some numbers on this.

[rnidumolu]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

This is all good and I'm aligned conceptually. But let's take a slightly practical view on this? I do this often - under a simple rule. I leave my son (now 3) in the car only for a two-three minute errand (like buying milk from the kiosk), and leave window sufficiently ajar (think three fingers wide), especially if he is really asleep.

I find it rather impractical to carry him out at every point for a short errand when he's sleepy.

I have done the car/AC running with the window slightly ajar (and taken just the car remote with me). Recently my son started getting curious with the gears and trying to jump into the driver's seat while I'm away - I stopped that.

Curious what do folks who strictly adhere to this belief do? Especially those who live in a simple nuclear family, without the support of elders or even a maid.

I'm open to changing my mind - but somehow I don't think it is a serious concern for short errands (2-3 mins) esp when the child is sleepy. Its another matter that every shop you go, there's chocolates / toys hanging off the shelf and the demands start.

My kid is 1 year old and I also do that. When she is sleeping I will leave her in the car with AC on(only if I am around and the car is fully visible to me). In a recent trip to my village in Andhra (due to a death in my family), from morning to evening she spent in the car only (with AC full on) to evade the summer heat. She has slept alone in the car and I was just watching her from outside.

By seeing all this I don't know whether I am doing correct or not

Any suggestions please?

Thanks,

[srishiva]

I think its unsafe to leave children in the car all by themselves under any circumstance without accompanying adult. You never know what unlucky thing might befall on you depending on the situation.

With engine ON and AC in re-circulation, its risky if something could go wrong.

[motomaverick]

Dont think its a good practice to leave a child whether sleeping or otherwise in an unattended car. Even if AC is on we should not because you never know what will fail in a car and cause a spark. After all its our own blood we are speaking of here, we need to be more considerate. Whether running 2 minute errand or 2 hours our child should be with us all the time. A car is just a mechanical component to carry us from point A to B and not something we use to store living beings.