Dangerous! A car doesn’t have to be moving to be…

Even if you drive one of the safest cars on the market and you always make sure your kids are correctly restrained in their car seats, there are dangers every parent and relative needs to consider. Terrible and preventable car related accidents and heat stroke cases kill a large number of children in the USA every year.

A car doesn’t have to be moving to be dangerous.

People don’t realize that a car in a driveway can be potentially deadly. Children are not aware of the danger of playing behind parked cars, and their size can make them impossible to be seen from your car’s blind spots, this can lead to a child being run over. Did you know that blind spots are a deadly flaw for most SUVs? There are also other potential dangers for children in and around a car: power windows, trunk entrapment, drowings, falls from motor vehicles, seatbelt strangulations, carbon monoxide poisoning, underage drivers… Remember to always keep an eye on your kids when there is a vehicle is present, and invest in the proper safety tools to help in case of an emergency!

Frontovers and backovers represent the two main causes of non-traffic fatalities for children age 15 and under[1]. It happens when the driver is moving and doesn’t see the kids standing in the blind spots in the front and in the back of the car. Be aware that the “blind zone” and “blind spots” got their name for obvious reasons: they’re the area behind, on the side and in front of a vehicle that the driver cannot see from the driver’s seat – and will not see if there is a child in those zones. “Two children every week are dying because they can’t be seen behind these larger vehicles that we’re driving” said Janette Fennell, the president and founder of the education and advocacy organization KidsAndCars.org.

To prevent these fatal accidents, it is important to teach children not to play in or around cars. The driver should also walk around the vehicle before entering and roll down the windows so you can hear if there are children present. Blind-spot mirrors are also a great investment to increase safety.

Heat stroke represent 16% of all of non-traffic deaths. Each year, an average of 37 children die from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside vehicles. Science show that everyone is capable of unknowingly leaving a sleeping baby in a car; this can lead to injury or even death. Stress or distractions are the main reasons people forget their children inside the vehicle. When children are locked inside a car, temperatures quickly rise, and they can get heat stroke. Learn more about the science behind the phenomenon of children forgotten in cars here.

If you see a child or pet left in a hot car it is important that you call 911. If you believe that the child is in immediate danger you should try to break a window to save the child. This can be done with a car escape tool like the resqme. Learn what to do here.
This article is mainly based on the research by Kidsandcars.org.  Prevention and awareness are key, so we proudly partnered with Kidsandcars.org and are working hard to create awareness, and stop these preventable deaths from happening. Support the cause and get your KidsAndCars resqme tool here.

[1] http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20070606_trauma_backovers/index.html

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car moving dangerous
car moving dangerous
car moving dangerous