Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Re: Another baby dies after being left in hot vehicle
10 years after San Jose case, more children dying in hot cars
<!--subtitle-->Moving kids to rear seats raises chance they'll be forgotten
<!--byline-->
By Ellen Huet
ehuet@mercurynews.com
Posted: 07/22/2011 09:51:01 AM PDT
<!--secondary date-->Updated: 07/22/2011 10:22:44 AM PDT
Ten years ago, Brian Gilbert drove to visit a brother-in-law in San Jose and had a fatal slip of the mind, leaving his 5-month-old son, Kyle Patrick, in the parked car for several hours while the infant slowly baked to death.
It's a tragedy that is on the rise -- last year a record number of children nationwide died from being left in hot cars -- and experts cite a surprising reason: a campaign to prevent young children from being killed by air bags.
That 1990s effort focused on moving infants from the front passenger seat of vehicles -- where they could be killed in low-speed collisions when air bags deploy -- to a safer position in one of the rear passenger seats. Since then, the number of baby deaths involving air bags has plummeted, dropping to just one in the U.S. last year.
But that means more children are out of sight in rear-facing seats, resulting in more chances they can be forgotten in vehicles. Even when it's only 80 degrees outside, temperatures inside a car can reach 109 in 20 minutes.
More...
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18525004

10 years after San Jose case, more children dying in hot cars
<!--subtitle-->Moving kids to rear seats raises chance they'll be forgotten
<!--byline-->
By Ellen Huet
ehuet@mercurynews.com
Posted: 07/22/2011 09:51:01 AM PDT
<!--secondary date-->Updated: 07/22/2011 10:22:44 AM PDT
Ten years ago, Brian Gilbert drove to visit a brother-in-law in San Jose and had a fatal slip of the mind, leaving his 5-month-old son, Kyle Patrick, in the parked car for several hours while the infant slowly baked to death.
It's a tragedy that is on the rise -- last year a record number of children nationwide died from being left in hot cars -- and experts cite a surprising reason: a campaign to prevent young children from being killed by air bags.
That 1990s effort focused on moving infants from the front passenger seat of vehicles -- where they could be killed in low-speed collisions when air bags deploy -- to a safer position in one of the rear passenger seats. Since then, the number of baby deaths involving air bags has plummeted, dropping to just one in the U.S. last year.
But that means more children are out of sight in rear-facing seats, resulting in more chances they can be forgotten in vehicles. Even when it's only 80 degrees outside, temperatures inside a car can reach 109 in 20 minutes.
More...
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18525004
