Hot Car Death In South Carolina 2nd In 2018: How It Happens

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC — A 10-month-old baby died Tuesday after his father forgot to drop him off at a childcare center and left him in a hot car all day, police in North Charleston, South Carolina, said. The temperature Tuesday was 85 degrees, 11 degrees above normal. But experts say children can die in cars even on days when temperatures are cooler because cars act like a greenhouse and can quickly warm up, making hot car deaths a threat year-round, and not just on blistering hot summer days.

On average, 37 kids a year die of vehicular heat stroke, according to national statistics. Excluding crashes, that’s the leading cause of death in vehicles for children 14 years and younger.

In the South Carolina case, the baby’s mother arrived at the daycare center that evening and learned the infant had never been dropped off in the morning, police said. She called her husband, who discovered the child unresponsive in the car. The baby was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The coroner’s office is investigating the hot car death, ABC News reported.

The infant’s death is at least the second this year attributed to vehicular heat stroke. On Feb. 28 in Miami, Florida, a 1-year-old boy died after being forgotten in the back seat. Temperatures that day were in the mid-80s.

Consumer Reports said last fall that its tests show that within an hour, temperatures inside cars can reach dangerous levels for children, pets and elderly adults, especially those with cognitive difficulties or dependent on others for their care. One test showed that when the temperature outside was 61 degrees, the temperature inside reached more than 105 degrees within an hour.

That’s especially dangerous for children and, especially, babies, who dehydrate more quickly than adults and can’t regulate their body temperature. Their bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults’, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Ruckersville, Virginia, mom Raelyn Balfour learned that tragically. She forgot to drop off her 9-month-old son, Bryce, at his babysitter’s on March 30, 2007, a day the high temperature was in the mid-60s.

Balfour had heard about hot car deaths, but had believed the children had irresponsible parents until her own family's tragedy. The day Bryce died, she felt tired, overwhelmed and distracted, and thought she had dropped him off.

“The fact is that heatstroke tragedies happen to loving, caring, attentive parents,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. “The vast majority of these tragedies happen when a child is mistakenly left behind in a vehicle or when an unattended child gains access to a vehicle.”

Scientific research shows that Forgotten Baby Syndrome does exist.

“It’s where the parent completely loses awareness that the child is in the car,” David Diamond, professor of psychology, molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida told ABC News in 2016. “It’s our brain habit system. It allows you do do things without thinking about it. That plan we have to stop a habit seems to get suppressed. We lose awareness of our plan to interrupt that habit. These different brain systems actually compete against each other.”

The problem is particularly acute among parents experiencing sleep deprivation or stress, Diamond said.

“You sort of go in autopilot mode,” he said, explaining how a routine drive from home to work, instead of home to the daycare center, is automatic.

Since 1990, more than 800 children have died after they were left unattended in hot vehicles, according to KidsAndCars.org.

The NHTSA offers some tips for parents:

• Look before you lock: Get into the routine of always checking the back seats of your vehicle before you lock it and walk away.
• Leave yourself a gentle reminder: Get in the habit of keeping a stuffed toy or other momento in your child’s car seat, then move it to the front seat as a visual reminder when the baby is in the back seat. Or, place your phone, briefcase or purse in the back seat when traveling with your child.
• Get in the practice of routine checks: If someone else is driving your child, or your daily routine has been altered, make a call to make sure the child arrived safely at the destination.
• Keep your keys out of children’s reach: Nearly three in 10 heatstroke deaths happen when an unattended child gains access to a vehicle, the NHTSA said.

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