Who leaves a child in a hot car?

[nissangirl74]

Seriously? Who gets so busy that they forget that their child is with them? For most parents, their child is the center of their universe, whether it is because of love or obligation. The fact that this is even an issue anywhere, let alone a national one, boggles my mind.

There is an article today on the Car Connection titled 'NHTSA: 628 Children Have Died In Hot Cars Since 1998; Technology To Protect Kids "Isn't There Yet"". 628 children?? are you freaking kidding me? How does this happen? As a mother, and a caregiver to many other kids long ago, I can not fathom leaving my child in the car for any reason. The closest I ever came to that was leaving Priss in the car when I stepped out to drop some videos in the return slot at Blockbuster. I wasn't even 50 feet from the car and I was out of it for 30 seconds. To leave my kid in the car while I go grocery shopping, or into Starbucks to grab a coffee, or to go to work for 8 freaking hours? These are concepts i can't even wrap my mind around.

In this article http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/10 ... #src=10065
the author is quoted as saying

"Worse, as both Foxx and Friedman pointed out, each of those deaths was avoidable, and current headlines aside, the vast majority were accidental. Around 51 percent of those fatalities were caused by parents who accidentally left their children in the car. Another 30 percent occurred when children became trapped while playing in unattended vehicles. And 17 percent resulted when parents intentionally left their kids behind -- though one hopes that's because the parents needed to do some quick shopping, not because they'd been planning infanticide.

The problem is, Foxx and Friedman say that many parents don't understand how quickly temperatures inside their cars can reach life-threatening levels. Children's body temperatures rise up to five times faster than adults', succumbing to heat stroke when their temperatures reach 107 degrees. "

I disagree. The problem is that people think it is OK to leave their kids alone in the car at ANY time, regardless of the temperature. Other bad things can happen besides dying from heat stroke. Kidnapping comes to mind, number one. How can you have such blatant disrespect for another human being - your own flesh and blood- that you would willingly put them in this type of danger??

There was a woman here in Phoenix that did this back in March. she left her 2 kids in the car to go to a job interview. They were 2 years old and 6 months old. She was gone 45 minutes!! Her mug shot, tears and all, was posted up in the media. For some reason, she generated a lot of sympathy and someone started a fundraiser for her because she was broke. People donated $114,000!!! Seriously? You're going to reward bad behavior? Oh, and to top it all off, she's not getting any time for this. "Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery says he'll dismiss child abuse charges against an Arizona mother accused of leaving her children in a hot car while she interviewed for a job. That's if she completes parenting and substance abuse treatment programs and establishes education and child care trust fund accounts for her children."
http://www.kpho.com/story/25039302/chil ... ids-in-car

Another case happened recently in Georgia, where a man purposely left his son in a hot car to die. "http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1855937" He had researched how long it took kids to die in hot cars (and a host of other things, it's all in the article).

So, how do we stop this? What type of punishment is fitting and what types of deterrents do we have to put in place in order to stop this? How do you fix stupid?

[szh]

Another case happened recently in Georgia, where a man purposely left his son in a hot car to die. "http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1855937" He had researched how long it took kids to die in hot cars (and a host of other things, it's all in the article).

Yeah ... I mentioned it in another thread: http-time-com-2931366-hot-car-death-tod ... 90266.html

The intent is not entirely clear or obvious yet.

Z

[Jesda]

I leave the kids in the car with guns. Otherwise, who else will protect my $3000 car?

[Bubba1]

I leave the kids in the car with guns. Otherwise, who else will protect my $3000 car?

But if your car has a manual transmission, most of the upcoming generation of car thieves wont be able to drive it.

I agree with Bex that it takes real stupidity to place a child in a life-threating situation like that. As far as an appropriate punishment, that's an interesting question. Obviously, responsible parents like us have little to fear with a harsh penalty as that scenario won't ever happen to us. And clearly, stupid people who put their children in harm's way like that should not be allowed to be parents and deserve harsh penalties. That said, I believe there are already laws on the books covering child abuse/endangerment. So my feeling is perhaps those existing laws simply need to be enforced more rather than adding a knee-jerk reaction new law that duplicates existing ones just because of a couple disturbing news reports spotlighting the crime.

[nissangirl74]

those existing laws simply need to be enforced more rather than adding a knee-jerk reaction new law

This. times a billion.

[mmkeller]

Castration/sterilization pure and simple.

[nissangirl74]

That stops you from making more babies. Unfortunately they do not eliminate stupidity.

[hannibal]

I disagree. The problem is that people think it is OK to leave their kids alone in the car at ANY time, regardless of the temperature. Other bad things can happen besides dying from heat stroke. Kidnapping comes to mind, number one. How can you have such blatant disrespect for another human being - your own flesh and blood- that you would willingly put them in this type of danger??

Exactly. When is it ever a good idea to leave a kid alone in a car?

[Jesda]

Yeah, but politicians want to feel useful. They have low self-esteem.

[Bubba1]

Yeah, but politicians want to feel useful. They have low self-esteem.

And not leaving small children to die in hot cars might be the only issue all politicians agree on...well, unless if you identify the party affiliation of the child's parents or identify the party that introduced the bill, then all bets are probably off..