Transcription:
Kids and Hot Cars: Tips for Preventing Tragedies

Bill Klaproth: (Host) Hot car deaths are a real danger. These tragedies can happen to the best, most loving parents, which is why it's important for all moms, dads, and caregivers, to learn about the dangers of heatstroke and develop safety routines to prevent such a tragedy from happening. With me today a is Susan Helms, formerly a pediatric critical care nurse and presently the director of injury prevention and safe kids at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital to talk about children, cars, and heatstroke. This is the Peds Pod by Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. I'm Bill Klaproth, Susan, thank you for your time. So it's reported that on average, every 10 days, a child dies from heatstroke in a vehicle. A car can heat up 19 degrees every 10 minutes even if the windows are cracked open, and young children are particularly at risk because their bodies heat up three to five times faster than that of an adult. So what is the message to parents and caregivers to prevent these tragedies?

Susan Helms: (Guest) First of all, it's important to know that the tragedy of a hot car death can happen to anyone, even the most loving and caring parents and caregivers. As temperatures are rising during the summer months, safe kids' coalition across the nation, along with kids in cars, the national safety council, and this is the national highway traffic safety administration have joined efforts to help prevent hot car deaths.

Host: Yeah, I think it's a really good point to say, even the most loving and caring parents and caregivers can sometimes forget a child in a car. So what kind of initiatives are in place to raise awareness of risks involving kids in cars.

Susan: On July 1st, the United States House of Representatives passed the moving forward act, which prioritizes traffic safety programs and vehicle safety efforts. This legislation directs NITSA to require technology and cars that will detect the presence of a child if they're left unattended in a car and is enacted by Congress, this legislation promises to save many lives.

Host: Yeah, this legislation is really important. And I know that some cars already have this technology built-in that it will alert the driver if something has been left in the back seat. So let me ask you this, even before this legislation is enacted, what are some other things that parents and families can do to prevent these tragedies?

Susan: There's a very special acronym that's easy to remember and easy to follow. It's called A.C.T. A is to avoid heatstroke injury and death by never leaving a child alone in a car ever. Keep the car locked and the keys out of reach. C is to create reminders. Please something in the backseat that you'll need when you reach your destination, maybe like a cell phone that you should not be using when you're driving anyway. And T is to take action. If you see a child alone in the car, call nine one one immediately. Emergency teams are prepared to assist. As a community, we should be all in this together to help save lives.

Host: Yeah, so true. So those are really excellent suggestions, and still, it is hard to believe that a parent or caregiver would actually forget that their child is in the car with them, but it does happen. What is the science behind this phenomenon?

Susan: In fact, research done by David Diamond, who's a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, has studied this extensively from a neuro-biological and a cognitive perspective. His efforts are based on interviews with parents, reading police reports, media reports, and his service as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases. And to explain how children are forgotten in cars. He, his hypothesis is that, first, driver loses awareness of the presence of the child in the car. Second, the driver exhibits, a failure of the brain's perspective memory system. Third, intervening efforts during the drive, including stressors and strong distractions may contribute to the cause of the failure of the prospective memory, which is competition between habit and prospective systems. So actually, in other words, cases forgotten children in cars involve a failure of the prospective memory system to function properly. An explanation for this is that the parent's brain habit memory system out-compete their brain's prospective memory system. And all of the cases that he studied; the parent begins the drive with a plan to bring the child to a destination. But at some point, during the drive, the parent has reported losing awareness that the child is in the car. In that case, the parent drives directly to the final destination, which is typically work or home. And in the process exits the car without awareness and the child is still in the car.

Host: Wow, it can happen just like that. So knowing these research findings, is there anything else that parents and caregivers can put into practice to help avoid such tragedies?

Susan: There are a couple of things that parents and caregivers can do to create additional reminders for them. One might be, a calendar reminder, one might be making arrangements with the childcare provider to contact you if the child doesn't appear when they're expected. And another one that's really important, I think is making a mental habit to park, look, and then lock.

Host: Okay, make a mental habit, park, look, then lock, great tips. And we're so happy that this legislation has been enacted as well. Susan, this has really been informative. Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

Susan: You're welcome.

Host: That's Susan Helms. And to learn more, please visit lebonheur.org and be sure to subscribe to the Peds Pod on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts, you can also check out lebonheur.org/podcast to view our full podcast library. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. This is the Peds Pod by Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. Thanks for listening.