Another baby has died in a hot car (Spain)

[comoatoupeira]

Another child has died in a horrific way after being accidentally left in a hot car.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/21/girl-dies-car-extreme-heat-spain

again, it was the father, distracted by work, who forgot to drop her off at nursery. I honesty don’t think this is a man/woman thing I think it is a work thing. In every one of this abominable stories it is someone being distracted by a work situation and they forget they haven’t dropped off the child. The article explains really well why it happens and how we need to make safeguards because we can’t rely on ourselves at all times.

distraction kills! Much more than malevolent intent.

AIBU to think that every single parent needs to read this article to realise it can happen to anyone and sometimes extreme stress and the power of habit can overcome us and cause the worst to happen
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

BE WARNED it is the most upsetting piece of writing I have ever read.

Yes. Why?

Because just one or two of the answers to your question are in there. Any adult even vaguely familiar with the news or criminal trials or the law could think of another couple of options. Your motivations on this thread aren’t pure, you’re arguing for the sake of it - or to assert your superior parenting/other people’s parenting inferiority. Waste of time.

'As for ‘We should not need beeping seats to remind us we are responsible for the safety of a dc’. Ok. So because you are superhuman enough to not ever have a memory failure like most of us earthly humans, no one should devise technology to help parents avoid this happening? '

I'm not 'superhuman', I have also had the odd lapse. Forgotten to pick up milk y'know that type of thing. I haven't ever forgotten children that were in my care.

Devise technology? Fgs oh so we have a beep when you stop the car to remind you your child is sat in it? Then what next, an alarm to remind you they need feeding, or that you need to hold bands whilst crossing roads?!

Maintaining safety of our kids should not need an app or whatever. What then oh my phone wasn't charged or the radio was on I didn't hear the beep instructing me how to be a normal adult?

Stop enabling such serious and horrific neglect.

I imagine my motivations are as pure as yours, we just hold different opinions on the subject. If you can’t cope with that and don’t want to engage in the discussion, then feel free not to post.

And I love the fact that me defending my opinion is ‘arguing for the sake of it’ but you defending yours is…’pure’? Typical mumsnet.

'We should all realise that, however unlikely, these things can happen to anyone, and make a conscious decision to think about simple ways to prevent it'

No. These things can't happen to anyone. Thankfully a rare occurrence which does seem to oppose this 'oh anyone to anyone anytime i forget my kids all the time!' argument.

@Gloriia Ok so let’s scrap the technology and just allow it to keep happening. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Children would continue to die needlessly, but at least you’d get to be righteous.

You are never going to be able to come down from your ivory tower over this issue. It’s a shame because it makes you potentially more dangerous as a parent. The fact that you are so sure you are right. That you think you understand the complexities of the human brain, how black and white you see everything, how you don’t consider that other people’s brains don’t work exactly the same way as yours.

There’s no point keep rehashing it so I’m out.

I’m glad there is awareness about this issue, along with tech and strategies to help parents so that further deaths are avoided. That can’t possibly be a bad thing.

If technology can save one life then we should use it.

Cars are safer than they have ever been. Airbags, seat belts, crumple zones. All make cars safer.

While we only hear about the 1 or 2 kids a year who die in cars worldwide from heat. The pyramid of risk says their must be others, found very ill, more found okish, and the lots at the bottom of the pyramid who are spotted just before parent walks away.

Those baby's must die horrific deaths and the horror for families trying to come to terms with it.

We shouldn't have to rely on technology! If these people weren't leaving them in a car without thinking about them for 10hrs they'd be doing something else.

If you're in charge of children you have to act responsibly or face the tragic consequences without people enabling and excusing.

'You are never going to be able to come down from your ivory tower over this issue. It’s a shame because it makes you potentially more dangerous as a parent'

I'm not in an ivory tower/ I'm not perfect/ I'm not superhuman all things thrown at me. Here's an idea save your fury for the people who do this to their dc.

I'm certainly not and never have been dangerous and kids (now older) were never left unattended in a terrible situation for hours because I'd forgotten them.

The parents are thinking the children are safe in nursery where they are meant to be.
Forgetting THEY were meant to drop them off. It is nearly always change of routine. And doing what they do out of habit.

Its known that people do forget kids, if the technology is there to prevent it happening then why not enforce it?

My God! you really should hand back your licence or at the very least re take your test.

Your car weighs at least 1 ton, will kill very easily a pedestrian, a cyclist, a horse rider, kill people in another car...

The attitude you have to driving, is beyond shocking.

Unless you change your attitudes, one day, whilst driving in your utterly mundane manner, you'll hear a thump and bang and will kill someone, maybe a kid on a bicycle, an innocent you had no idea was in plain sight of you but you were too engaged with a podcast to notice.

@Gloriia Totally agree with all your posts.

The attitudes displayed on here by some posters beggars belief but doubtless the same as the McCanns had.

Are you a nervous driver? Driving is a mundane task for many people who do it in a daily basis. Nervous drivers are more dangerous than confident ones ime.

It is a symptom of humans being totally disconnected from real life. It all about the screens, ear pods and robotic voices.

My last car had a warning to check the back seat.

It's not that actually. The danger is when your brain goes into autopilot to complete a routine task that you do on a daily basis. All brains do this, not just deliquent or irresponsible people.

Most of the time when we go into autopilot and make a slip-up like forgetting to stop off at the shop on the way home, or turning up at work on a Bank Holiday, it's no big deal we laugh it off and think nothing of it. I know it's a massive leap to forgetting your sleeping child is still in the car, but brains can absolutely make that error.

Maybe we could have some kind of device that warns us to check bedrooms in case theyre still in bed if a different parent is on parenting duty, check bathrooms, a beep to check roads, hold hands for safety?

Oh wait, we have brains and some of us have common sense and are able to act responsibly too. Still I'm sure some folk will be scrolling looking for safety devices whilst their dc are forgotten and left god knows where.

'The danger is when your brain goes into autopilot to complete a routine task that you do on a daily basis'

Yet some posters are arguing on here the danger is when routines change and you don't normally do said routine task on a daily basis.

'The danger is' careless people who don't pay attention and seemingly don't think about their kids the whole day whilst at work.

Yes, that's what i mean, the brain autopilot completes the routine task, causing you to forget to do the 'extra' thing you don't normally do in your routine. We've literally all done it - just not with such tragic outcomes.

Yes, i agree that it's unthinkably, unfathomably awful. I can't imagine forgetting a child in a car, i'd hate myself forever if i did. But we all do careless/mindless things sometimes. People have run over their own husbands/wives and children in accidents because they went into autopilot and forgot to check properly when backing out of their own driveway. These things happen all the time, i'm not excusing it, which is why we should be talking about it and thinking of ways to keep our minds in check.

How in the genuine hell can anyone forget their baby!!. You forget keys, bags, phones sure but your own frigging baby?! I’m sorry but there is literally no distraction huge enough to forget your own baby

The most common answer is people get in the car with the kid, radio on and start driving, they then head to work as they do every other morning.
Forgetting it's not work as usual its go via nursery.

I know it's unthinkable, but did you read the psychologist's study into how it happens. It's actually frighteningly simple mundane. Of course, we're not all forgetting our babies on the regular, it's thankfully incredibly rare and takes a very specific set of circumstances for it happen. But if you're aware of it, it absolutley should never happen.

It would be inappropriate to try to sell cars here, but I have a new-ish EV which reminds me every time I switch off not to leave children or pets in the car.

After I lock it motion detectors kick in. And then alarms sound and the phone app linked to my car starts screaming too.

All cars should have this technology.

How can you forget the most precious of a life you have responsibility for? I cannot comprehend no matter how busy your life appears, to leave a poor helpless child in a car. For how long? It will haunt you and should.