Child heatstroke death in vehicles is a preventable tragedy. Here are 5 tips.

Dec 02, 2023

Georgia Preiditsch (left) and Marley Kean (center) console one another while Merry Preiditsch (right) wipes tears from her eyes at the memorial for a 16-month-old who died in a hot car the previous Friday, at Bishop England High School on Daniel Island on Aug. 28, 2023. Henry Taylor/Staff

DANIEL ISLAND — Flowers, stuffed animals, hearts drawn in colorful chalk and excerpts from Scripture mark the school parking spot where a baby died in a hot vehicle last week.

On the morning of Aug. 28, about 100 students and staff trickled out of a morning Mass at Bishop England High School, approaching parking space 29 where the infant girl was discovered unconscious in a car seat in the backseat of a blue Subaru SUV.

She isn't the first child in South Carolina to succumb this way. At least a dozen children in the state have died of heatstroke inside a vehicle since 2005 because a caretaker forgot them, according to a national database. The news of another incident has prompted difficult questions about how a parent can in good faith forget their child for hours inside a car.

It turns out that if you're capable of forgetting your cellphone inside your car, you also just might be capable of forgetting your child.

These deaths can happen to any family and are preventable, according to researchers and safety experts who offer a series of tips to ensure that a child is not unintentionally left behind in a car. Among them: keeping a visual reminder of the child, such as a stuffed animal or diaper bag, in the front seat and making a plan with a child care provider so a parent is immediately notified if their child is missing.

Neuroscientists have found that factors like stress and distractions can cause the suppression of the parts of the brain associated with "prospective memory" recall, which is responsible for the planning and execution of a task, like dropping off a child at day care. This leads to the dominance of the brain's "habit memory" system, which is responsible for executing repetitive actions that are performed automatically, like routinely driving from home to work.

Students write notes on a large board at the memorial for a 16-month-old who died inside a hot car at the parking space outside Bishop England High School on Daniel Island on Aug. 28, 2023. Henry Taylor/Staff

"It can happen to anyone," said Jan Null, who runs the database noheatstroke.org.

By the numbers

Kids and Car Safety estimates that more than 1,050 children have died from heatstroke in hot cars since 1990, and at least another 7,300 survived with a range of injuries.

Noheatstroke.org also tracks pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths. The database relies on media reports and is funded by the safety advocacy nonprofit National Safety Council. It found that 960 children have died across the U.S. since 1998 due to pediatric vehicular heatstroke.

The cause of more than half of the roughly 1,000 deaths was a parent or caretaker forgetting the child inside a vehicle.

In the Palmetto State, 22 children have died since 1998 of vehicular heatstroke. A dozen of the deaths occurred as a result of a caregiver unintentionally leaving the child in a car, according to the database.

Four of the deaths occurred when the child gained access to a vehicle on their own, while in the remaining six cases a caregiver intentionally left the child in the car.

Parents unintentionally forgetting their children inside vehicles is largely a modern phenomenon that became significant in the 1990s, when airbags became widespread in personal vehicles. As a result, safety advocates recommended parents place children in the back seat so they would not be harmed by the impact of an airbag springing into action.

The practice has saved children's lives, but has rendered them almost invisible from the driver's field of vision.

Several 2022 vehicles have rear-seat reminder systems and the industry is moving to have the systems in every vehicle by the 2025 model year, according to Consumer Reports. The best system is one that is preset, because if parents have to set the system to work, many will not because they believe they would never forget a child, Consumer Reports recommends.

Teachers, hospital administrators, lawyers, doctors and dentists have all forgotten their children in a vehicle with tragic results, according to Null, a lecturer at San Jose State University who has worked as a meteorologist in the San Francisco area for 50 years.

Students gather around the memorial for a 16-month-old child who died inside a hot car at the parking space outside Bishop England High School on Daniel Island on Aug. 28, 2023. Henry Taylor/Staff

"Humans are fallible," Null said. "Every new parent says 'I would never forget my child.' It happens to the best parents out there."

Recent tragedy

On Daniel Island, Berkeley County Coroner Darnell Hartwell said a preliminary investigation determined the mother, who works at Bishop England, forgot her 16-month-old daughter in the school's parking lot. School had resumed for less than two weeks. The child was supposed to be dropped off at day care.

Temperatures in the Charleston area Aug. 25 reached as high as 93 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The inside temperature of a car can quickly reach 120 degrees, according to the American Red Cross.

Charleston police and the State Law Enforcement Division continue to investigate.

Students, parents, and faculty from Bishop England High School console one another outside the Daniel Island school during the memorial on Aug. 28, 2023, for a 16-month-old child who died inside a hot car. Henry Taylor/Staff

Bishop England is a private high school overseen by the Catholic Diocese of Charleston. School officials canceled the Friday night football game against First Baptist. They canceled classes Monday and held an optional Mass service for students, families and faculty.

Tips

Here are 5 strategies to prevent pediatric vehicular heatstroke.

1. Place a stuffed animal or child's diaper bag in the front passenger seat as a visual reminder that the child is with you.

2. Put your wallet in the back seat, so you'll have to look in the backseat of the car before exiting.

3. Make a communication plan with your child care provider. If your child does not show up on a day when they are supposed to be there, ask your child care provider to call you right away.

4. If a child is missing, immediately check the car.

5. If you see a child alone in a vehicle, check to make sure the child is okay and responsive. If not, call 911 immediately. Some states, including South Carolina, have Good Samaritan laws, which shield a person from civil liability for damages resulting from forcibly entering a vehicle to save a child.

Reach Ema Schumer at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @emaschumer.

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