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.

I can see this fallacy in myself.

I might start to read an article about a woman who died young. If I then discover for example, that the woman died of lung cancer after smoking 30 a day (I don't smoke) or in a sky-diving accident (I have no intention of going sky-diving), then I do feel relieved. And although I might still sorry for the woman and her family, I can keep some emotional distance as I read the story.

In fact my brain seems to scour these articles for any reason that this is less likely to happen to me than the poor woman mentioned. She ignored her symptoms for months before going to her GP? Had a strong family history of breast cancer? Was born with a heart defect? That feeling of relief again, even though anyone can fail to recognise vague symptoms, including a GP, breast cancer is common and anyone can get it, and whilst I've never been diagnosed with a heart defect, I do have other factors which increase my risk of developing heart disease.

Yeah, it is human nature to do it.