Children dying in cars due to heat

[Soubriquet]

I know people say accidents happen, but I genuinely can’t understand how people leave their kids in the car and forget about them.

I mean, even when I was so exhausted I forgot my own name, I still had my children in my forefront of my mind.

It’s a heartbreakingly sad and I do feel sorry for the parents when they discover they left their kids in the car but I still don’t understand how.

My mum once forgot my elder sister - left her outside the butcher shop in her pram, thankfully all was fine but I can definitely see how it happens.

Who was the politician a few years back that forgot his baby/child at the pub his family stopped for to have lunch?

And there was a case I remember from a few decades back where a family had pulled over to let one of the kids out to p or something and they all stopped for a break and put the baby in it's baby seat on top of the car and then drove off down the motorway. Couldn't figure out why cars were honking their horns and trying to get them to pull over until the looked in the rear view mirror to see the baby seat bouncing back behind their car and lorries swerving to avoid it. Must have been a real quality baby seat as the baby came through without a scratch.

My mom had my 2 oldest brothers with her on the underground - they were about 2 & 4 years of age. Came to their stop, mom grabbed the younger one's hand to help him out the door. The older one was a bit too slow and the doors closed with him still on the train. Fortunately some kind woman saw what had happened and got off the next stop with my brother on the assumption that my mom would come after him. No harm, no foul.

That was in 2019 ?

My dcs are adults now and I've never forgotten them anywhere, they have always been at the forefront of my mind. And I can be scatty with keys, phone, cards but never my dc.

I'm surprised there hasn't been some kind of vehicle technology to prevent something like this though - the message mentioned above is useful but if it comes on every time many people would stull go on autopilot and assume their dc is where they usually are (if they are in the car as a change to the routine).

I am also a bit suspicious of the numbers reported. I'm sure it's a tragic accident in most cases, but as it always seems to be treated with sympathy rather than neglect, it would be an easy way for an evil parent or caregiver to get rid of a baby and get away with it.

Years ago I lived 2 minutes from a supermarket so always walked there for my shopping. One day I was driving home from somewhere and stopped at the supermarket. I then walked home on autopilot leaving my car in the car park. The next day I came out and my car wasn’t where I usually parked. I was totally panicked for a few minutes until it dawned on me that the car was still at the supermarket. I was shocked at how easily my brain just followed its normal routine. I have read the article linked earlier before and it is haunting but I can see how it could happen.

When I was a child my mum realised my little brother was missing. She was frantically searching the house, the garden, asking neighbours if they'd seen him toddle down the street. She was just about to call the police when she realised he was still happily sat in the car. Not a hot day and it hadn't been long so he was fine but it shows it can happen!

It's such a sad story but certainly don't think it was malicious.

Exhaustion and changes to routine do funny things to us all.

There's been many a lighthearted "baby fog" thread where newborns have been left in doctors surgeries, the supermarket, finding remotes in fridges etc.

As others have said, it's usually a change in routine. People carry out routine activities on autopilot. It's easy to forget something different when your head is following the usual pattern. More than once my mum left me at the supermarket as a toddler because she'd forgotten she'd kept me off nursery that day. She'd remember I was in the car at least, but would then forget I was with her when we were walking around the shop because she was following her usual process of shopping, packing, leaving, and driving home.

I have been looking for my toddler with him on my hip before now.!!!

One of the reasons that new cars were relatively slow to adopt fairly straightforward "check the back seat, there's something in it" technology is because everyone thinks they would never do this. Until they do. It is so easily done if you're out of a regular routine or tired or distracted, and if that happens to combine with a hot climate, something so small and human can have terrible consequences.

Let she who has never ever forgotten to do anything cast the first stone.

I'm like that with my phone when it's in my left hand. 😂

The technology is there but its a huge liability if it fails and a baby dies. I think the linked article discusses this too.

Yes but your mum realised straight away your brother wasent there In cases like this the baby has been left for hours
I can understand people forgetting momentarily but for hours ?

https://archive.ph/5wGkg
This is the best news article I have ever read - it is profoundly shocking but taught me so so much.

DP’s mum used to tell the story of when she drove to the shops with her youngest, left the sleeping baby in the car while she went into the shop, then she absentmindedly caught the bus home. She used to howl with laughter and think it was a cute, funny tale every time she told it.

Used to give me nightmares.

Baby was fine btw, DP mum caught the bus straight back and she was still asleep in the back of the car (not a hot day). Nobody else had even noticed.

Long time ago, H left our dog in the boot of a colleague's car. He normally used to walk to/from work with the dog. This occasion, he and the colleague went somewhere after work, so dog was put in the car. H got dropped home after, dog didn't wake up or move. It was only when the colleague got to his home 45 minutes later that the dog sat up. She had a lovely sleepover with the colleague, but again, it was the change in routine. It just didn't register with him that he had forgotten something.

I nearly forgot my child in the underground now that I think about it. Had to take her up to London when I normally go alone. Walked off, guards had to shout for me and she was crying.

Yeah, I'm convinced now. I imagine in most cases, the child is well, nothing is reported. Or perhaps the child is rescued by other people and is unharmed. Only a few cases involve deaths that are widely reported on.

Not straight away. We'd been home for at least half an hour. Definitely not hours and hours but I can still see how it might happen.

Have you read the article?

Oops, forgot to quote. That was to @x2boys

It would be so easy for car manufacturers to have a 'child seat' setting, so that you programme the weight of the car seat and if it's any heavier than the empty weight a loud alarm goes off.

The politician was David Cameron

Oh my goodness...That's absolutely appalling.

Cars can become so hot when stationary even in U.K, never mind somewhere warmer.

There is a lot of awareness about not to leave dogs in a vehicle : The ''Dogs die in hot cars'' campaign

But to forget a child? It seems unbelievable.

Surely one would be aware of the silence of not having your child with you?

That poor little girl- It must have been an horrendous way to go.

Did they forget their wallet, handbag, phone in the car ? Answer probably not so there’s no excuse for forgetting a child or a dog.