A tow truck can save a life

Call a Tow truck when you see one if you see a child trapped in a hot car. We will unlock the car fast and for free!

A tow truck can save lives. You can save a life.

Last year, 2018 was the deadliest year for children left in hot cars, eighter forgotten, accidentally or left intentionally. There were over 50 children deaths in hot cars in the US. This number grows to 800 if you consider the last 20 years. This is a huge number of children that died by heatstroke.

A quarter of this happened while parents at work forgot they have their children with them in the car. These are preventable death, and we all should work together to stop this number from growing by educating ourselves and others about this danger. Learning about the circumstances that this accidents occur and how we can prevent them, is the main focus of different training programs for safety of the children like the one offered by NAtional Safety Council. See here:

Temperatures inside a vehicle can reach really high numbers fast, even on a cloudy day. And, no leaving the window cracked will not change that.

Your car is heating up very quickly as the sunlight passing through the window will heat up all the object in the car. Seats and the dashboard continues to heat the trapped air inside your car. The first 30 minutes is when the biggest temperature rise is happening, increasing the inside temperature with even 50 degrees on a sunny day. Do not count on the fact that you live in a cold state or the temperature outside is not high, the temperature in your vehicle will still increase being way more than the outside temperature. Children are the most vulnerable age range that exposed to a higher temperature can easily suffer a heat stroke.

Did you know that the body can suffer a heatstroke at 104 degrees? Children’s body is more difficult to cool as they do not perspire as much as adults, and their body heats up 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s body.

car temperature increase
Duluth auto towing car safety

Sometimes calling a tow truck it’s not an option as in this case time is key. Just keep in mind the Good Samaritan Law approved in all 50 states in 2018 and take action by first calling 911, then trying to locate the driver and if you can’t find the driver in a reasonable time, break the window to extract the child from the vehicle.

Studies of the last 20 years show that the majority of children who died in hot cars as a result of heat strokes were unknowingly left or forgotten in the car. Another big part of the statistics are the children who gain access and become trapped in cars. They may be playing a game or looking for a toy or sweets in the car and get locked inside.

There is another category of death by heatstrokes in children that are knowingly left in cars, as parents think that running a quick errand and leaving children in the car for 5-10 minutes will do no harm. Parking the car in a shade or a cracked window will make no difference. The temperature inside the vehicle will rise 19 degrees in just 10 minutes.

What can you do to avoid this?
        –  As a caregiver, parent, you should stick to a routine and avoid distractions while driving. Place an item you would not leave your vehicle without, like your phone, purse, laptop, briefcase or even one of your shoe, on the back seat, near your child. This way you make sure you take a last look in the back before leaving your vehicle.

        – Teach children that cars are not a playing area and they are not allowed inside a vehicle without a grownup. Always lock your vehicle when parked to reduce the chance of a child getting trapped inside, and ensure that kids do not have access to the keys.

       – Teach children, even if they are small how to hunk the horn of the car if they get trapped inside the car

Many states implemented measures to reduce the number of death from happening. Stronger laws to protect children from intentionally being left in cars, measures to increase public awareness about vehicle heating dynamics, about children’s getting trapped in cars by accident, about protecting strangers when it comes to breaking a vehicles window to save a child’s life (the Good Samaritan Laws) and many other measures. Efforts made by car producers to implement technologies on new vehicles that will alert you to check the rear seat if the vehicles back door was opened and closed before the vehicle was started are greatly supported. This future is already available on 2017 GM cars. Car seat technologies that generate sounds when the “smart” chest clip is activated that remind the driver that a child is in the back seat 2 seconds after the car engine is turned off.

Don’t think it can’t happen to you! It can happen to anyone! Children died in cars with loving parents or caregivers who just got distracted for a moment. When your brain goes on autopilot, stress, emotions, sleep deprivation, can be very dangerous. Setting your GPS to the place where you need to take your child, even if you know the road is a reminder that your child is in the car with you. This way even if you get distracted by a phone conversation you will automatically follow your GPS.

If you are a parent talk to other parents about this, educate strangers every time you have a chance so the number of deaths decreases as much as possible. We are all in this together! Learn and share the knowledge!