It's a heart-breaking reality that already has happened 22 times nationwide in this year of record-breaking heat: A child left in a hot automobile dies of heatstroke.
The nation's top road safety official visits here today for the first in a series of listening sessions on the dangers of hyperthermia and how best to inform parents and caregivers of the potentially tragic consequences of leaving children unattended in automobiles.
National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) head David Strickland will lead the discussion that will also include Georgia's first lady Sandra Deal. Three such child deaths have occurred in Georgia this year.
Similar sessions will follow on Aug. 23 in Raleigh and later in California, Nevada and Florida -- states consistently among the hardest-hit for child heatstroke deaths in cars, according to NHTSA.
Last year, 49 children died in such cases across the nation -- well above the annual average of about 38 and the highest single-year total ever, according to Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national group working to prevent injuries and death to children in and around cars.
"We're on track to equal or surpass that number this year, which is unacceptable," Strickland says.
One point to be stressed: The importance of passersby taking action such as calling 911 when they see a child in distress in a hot car.
"All of us have to be on guard," says Deal, wife of Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. "We have to be aware."
Another key point: Parents whose children perish in hot cars are not monsters.
"What happens when these terrible tragedies occur is that people pull back and say, 'What idiots, what stupid parents, how could you ever forget your child?'" Fennell says. "In about 90% of these cases, they're really good parents."
One safety feature designed to protect children -- rear-facing child seats -- actually contributes to the problem, Fennell says: Harried, distracted parents get out of the car and don't notice the child in the seat behind them.
Much of the nation is sweltering under record-high temperatures, but Strickland says child heatstroke deaths don't just happen during heat waves. "It can be a 68-degree day" and a child left in a closed car can die of heatstroke, he says.
Strickland says the agency wants to increase awareness and devise a national approach similar to the one it took with frontal air bags a decade ago. Early on, some air bags injured children riding in the front seat.
"We had a full-on program led by NHTSA and our safety partners to get people to put their children in the back seat," Strickland says. "For hyperthermia, I expect a very similar track."
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