Every year in the United States, several dozen kids get baked to death in hot cars.

In other words, the parent and the child are in the car together. The parent knows the child is there, because the parent put the child in the car. But the parent completely forgets about the child. Upon arriving at his or her destination, the parent rolls up the windows, locks the car and walks away, leaving the child to die.

On a summer day, the temperature inside a locked car can easily rise to 130 or 140 degrees F. A child doesn’t last long in heat like that. Even on a 60 degree day, the car’s interior temperature can rise to 110 degrees. That is also fatal given a few hours.

The obvious question is this: How could a parent COMPLETELY forget a child like that? It seems absolutely impossible.

Even more amazing is that, prior to 1990, this kind of thing never happened. Then, all of a sudden, it began. What changed?

You can find the answer here:

Fatal Distraction — Kids, Cars and Hyperthermia

The answer comes in two parts:

1) First, the problem with passenger-side air bags became common knowledge. In the 1990s, passenger-side airbags started to appear as standard equipment in most U.S. cars, and they began to kill kids who were sitting in the front seat. Because of this change, parents were told to move their kids to the back seat. Out of sight, out of mind, apparently.

2) Second, cell phones became far more common. As the article explains, a parent who is involved in an intense or stressful cell phone call can become totally distracted. In the process, the parent completely forgets about the child who is out of sight in the back seat.

There doesn’t have to be a cell phone involved, but it is common. As the article explains in fascinating (but horrific) detail, lack of sleep + stress + change of routine is enough to trigger the problem. And the problem knows no boundaries:

The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.

Here is a typical case:

It is obviously tragic, and obviously devastating to any parent. But it appears that it can easily happen to anyone. And the season for hot cars is upon us in the northern hemisphere. If you have a small child in your care, it is something to keep in mind.

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