Injury to children as the result of being left in a vehicle is one of the prominent injuries of the summer season. According to the Beterem association, from the year 2008 until May 2016, 381 children who were left alone in a vehicle were reported in the media. 19 cases ended with the death of the child. Of the total number of children left in a vehicle, 10% were left in commercial passenger vehicles.
There are a number of scenarios that are characteristic of children being left in vehicles:
- Parents who forgot that their child is in the vehicle, for example, when they were on their way to work, and discovered hours later that they forgot their child in the vehicle;
- Parents who intentionally left their children in the vehicle (for example to run errands that they estimated would be completed quickly), underestimating the risk that they were taking;
- Children forgotten in commercial passenger vehicles, sometimes after falling asleep, where the driver did not notice them;
- Children who entered a parked vehicle to play in it, and did not succeed in getting out.
The Influence of the Temperature in a Vehicle on Children
Various studies show that extreme temperatures affect infants and toddlers more rapidly and more severely than adults. Due to the small dimensions of children’s bodies, their body temperature can increase three to five times more rapidly than the body temperature of an adult increases.
In a study performed for General Motors Company, the air temperature was measured in a car parked in the sun at a temperature 35 degrees Celsius, which has been previously aerated using an air conditioner. After 20 minutes, the temperature in the car reached over 50 degrees Celsius, and after 40 minutes, the temperature exceeded 65.5 degrees Celsius.
Even Leaving a Window Open does Not Help. In the study, it was found that even if a window is left slightly open, the temperature inside the car increases to levels that are extremely dangerous to children, to susceptible adults and to animals.
In the study of Null et al., it was found that hyperthermia can occur even on days that are not particularly hot: on days when the outside temperature was 22 degrees Celsius, within 60 minutes the temperature inside the vehicle increased to 47 degrees Celsius. 80% of the temperature increase occurred in the first 30 minutes.
Legislation in Israel in respect of Leaving Children in a Vehicle
In Israel, clause 361 of the Penal Law 1977, which deals with the topic of “leaving a child unsupervised”, states: One who leaves a child who has not reached the age of six years without proper supervision, and thus endangers the child’s life or causes actual injury to his welfare or health, is liable for imprisonment of three years; if he did so by negligence, he is liable for imprisonment of one year; if he did so with the intention of abandoning the child, he is liable for imprisonment of five years.
In respect of a commercial vehicle for transporting children, it is to be noted that in in Israel, the driver has the obligation of searching the vehicle after the children disembark from the commercial passenger vehicle.
How to Prevent Forgetting Children in a Vehicle - Accessories
Nothing that appears below constitutes a recommendation for any of the products or companies; any purchase of a safety product requires a check of its suitability for the specific circumstances, and is the consumer’s responsibility only.
- Child Reminder Application - A GPS-based smart phone application (at this stage for iPhone). The application is able to automatically identify the beginning of the user’s journey, and waits to identify the stop. When the state of final stop is identified, the application begins to remind the user with voice messages accompanied by vibration, until this is canceled by the user.
- Clip to Prevent Forgetting Children - An initiative of the Electric Company. A simple strap connected with a clip at its two portions, with one portion connected to the steering wheel, and the other portion to the key ring. A driver who enters with children is required to click together the two portions of the strap and start the car as a routine; however, when he wishes to leave the car after removing the key from the ignition switch, the strap will prevent this, with the aim of reminding him that he must release the strap from the steering wheel, but also the children who are strapped in the back seat. This product is installed in all the Electric Company’s vehicles.
- Application for Kindergarten Teacher - An application that enables monitoring the presence of children in kindergartens and educational institutions. The kindergarten teacher has a list of the kindergarten children. When they arrive to the kindergarten, the kindergarten teacher marks their name and the parents receive a message that their children have arrived. After a predetermined amount of time, the names of children who have not yet arrived appear, and at the press of a button, the kindergarten teacher updates the parents that their child has not yet arrived to the kindergarten. The parents will be able to reply to her regarding this. This, if the child entered the commercial passenger vehicle but did not arrive at the kindergarten, the parents will be able to monitor this.
- System for Detecting a Baby Forgotten in the Vehicle - A system suitable for private and commercial passenger vehicles. A system of sensors that is able to detect a child forgotten in the vehicle in real time, and automatically activates a chain of actions that ensure the welfare of the child. The system is automatic, and there is no need to remember to turn it on or off. These actions are set in advance, and can include: sending a distress call to a manned call center; opening a window; sending a text message to a chosen number; activation of the camera installed in the vehicle also when the vehicle is turned off and locked, in order to enable real-time communication with the child (relevant for buses and commercial passenger vehicles).
- System for a Commercial Passenger Vehicle - The product includes a switch installed deep within the passenger cabin, to confirm that the driver searches the vehicle; it performs a number of actions, including sending a message to inform the work coordinator when the driver does not perform a search and activating an alarm (this product is currently in the process of patent registration and of regulatory registration at the Ministry of Transport).
Examples of Products Marketed in the USA
- Seat and Seat Belt Detectors - This product includes two different types of detectors: a weight detector that detects a child in a child safety seat, and a detector on the buckle of the child safety seat’s restraining strap. The sensors make contact with an device that serves as the vehicle key chain. An alarm/ring are activated when the driver is further than four and a half meters from the child strapped into the child safety seat.
- Sensor for the Back Door - When the vehicle is started, the system activates if it detected that the back door was open for over 3 seconds prior to the vehicle starting (based on the assumption that a child cannot be put into a child safety seat in less than 3 seconds). As soon as the driver turns the vehicle off, a reminder tone is sounded, which can be turned off by pressing the button located at the back door.
- Sensor Under the Child Safety Seat - A sensor installed under the child safety seat, which can, among other things, detect if a child is left, and sends a warning to a mobile device.
- Special Child Safety Seat - A child safety seat with a built-in monitor within the seat that warns of the child being left in the vehicle or of temperature elevation in the vehicle or of the child becoming freed from the safety belt during the journey. The warning reaches a cellphone via an application.
- Alarm to the car key chain - A pad placed on the child safety seat, and operated when the baby sits in the seat. If the driver leaves the vehicle without taking the baby out of the car, the device connected to his key chain sounds a tone that reminds him to take the baby out of the vehicle. If the driver does not take the baby out of the car, after a time, a louder alarm is sounded in the vehicle itself, including calling out “Baby in danger”, in order to warn passers-by near the vehicle.
For further information about child safety in a vehicle and products that help prevent forgetting children in a vehicle, it is possible to contact the
Beterem National Center for Children’s Safety and Health.
The information is by courtesy of the ‘Beterem’ association.
