We hear stories about hot car deaths involving children more often than we can stand. Just yesterday a mother in Mississippi forgot to drop her 2 year old off at daycare and found her 7 hours later dead in her vehicle.
But, not all deaths occur because a parent left a sleeping infant in a car. Sometimes paid caregivers and bus drivers are negligent as well.
What parents, caregivers, and children don’t know about hot cars can be deadly.
1)Since 1998, an average of 38 children have died in a hot car.
2) A total of 619 children have been killed in a hot car since 1998.
3) Of those, 70% occurred in children under age 2.
4) More than half occurred because the caregiver forgot about the child and left them in the vehicle.
5) The other 30% occurred when a child got into a car without the caregiver’s knowledge and couldn’t get out.
6) 20% occur when a caregiver intentionally leaves a child in the car.
7) The temperature inside a car can heat up rapidly. It only takes 20 minutes for the temperature to go up 20 degrees.
8)Parking in the shade and cracking a window does little to keep a car cool.
9) The temperature inside a car can reach 110 degrees even if the outside temperature is only 60 degrees.
10) Body temperatures of children rise rapidly. Actually 3 to 5 times faster than adults. Heat stroke occurs at 104 degrees, an internal temperature of 107 degrees can be deadly.
If you have lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence, call Roanoke Child Injury Lawyer Paul Thomson of The Thomson Law Firm. Paul Thomson aggressively pursues cases involving injured children in Roanoke, Salem, Christiansburg, Pulaski, Radford, Lexington, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, Abingdon, VA as well as all counties in Virginia and West Virginia. Call today for a free case evaluation (540) 777-4900.
