One of the saddest newsletters we subscribe to at Kars4Kids, is that of meteorologist Jan Null, who has made a very serious hobby of tracking hot car deaths. The other day, we got the tragic news that the deaths of a Superior, Arizona 9-month-old girl and her 2-year-old brother, back on March 26, had been confirmed as due to heat exposure.
According to Dr. Null, the confirmation raises the total number of 2018 Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke (PVH) deaths to 20. That makes this year, moreover, a tie for having the worst running total of hot car deaths through the month of June. Last year, there was one fewer death counting from January through June, for a total of 19 PVH deaths for that time period.
And of course, the year’s not over and we’re still in the thick of summer. Last week there was another hot car death, this time in Frankfort, Kentucky. Null is still waiting for confirmation that the death is due to heatstroke before he updates his website.
It beggars belief that parents are still refusing to take precautions against this scourge, simply out of hubris that they aren’t those kinds of parents. So we’re going to ask you to just humor us, please, and put your cellphone in the backseat of your car, every time you drive. We know you’re not that kind of parent, but it will make us feel better, so do it for us, okay?
Happy (and safe!) travels.
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