Gene Weingarten's Washington Post 2010 Pulitzer prize-winning article "Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?" has stimulated some comment on the Internet. Some constructive comment was available on the Post online about how to prevent these fatal or potentially fatal mistakes.
One possibility is an electronically installed weight-triggering device. If there is too much weight on a seat, an alarm is set off. Well, that would have to be really well designed for this particular situation. My front passenger seat has a weight-triggered device. If I set my heavy briefcase on it, a red light will show up on my dashboard saying that the airbag for the passenger seat has been de-activated. In other words, my brief case weighs as much as a small child, so the airgbag is deactivated to avoid death or injury to a child in the event of a crash. But I only know that if I am not distracted and I do see the red light on the console.
Let me start with some ideas urged by KidsAndCars.org, an advocacy group for child vehicle safety. They urge some basic measures to prevent the tragedy of children being inadvertently left in vehicles:
- Always put something you'll need for work -- cellphone, handbag, employee badge, etc. -- on the floor of the back seat, near the child.
- Keep a large teddy bear in the child's car seat when it's not occupied. When the child is placed in the seat, put the teddy bear up front in the passenger seat. It's a visual reminder that anytime the teddy bear is in the passenger seat, the child is in the back.
- Make arrangements with your child's day-care provider or babysitter that you will always call them if your child will not be there on a particular day as scheduled. Ask them to always phone you if your child does not show up when expected.
Distracted parents may be more and/or larger in-your-face reminders: How about an in-your-face reminder? One on the dashboard where the parent-driver can see it before exiting the car, one of the back window of the car, one on or near the computer monitor the parent may next see. Consider taking an indelible marker and writing your cellphone number on the one you put on the car window.
How about a little "baby-on-board" key ring? They're available.
We have some industry-wide weight-triggering technology to work with that installed in new cars I wrote about that above. Now! Make it talk to us. Link this technology to each rear seat. Then car "knows" there is some weight on a seat or seats that might be a child. (Sure, it might be the groceries you put on a car seat . . . but no problem).
The driver stops. Opens the driver-side door. What does a distracted parent need to tell him or her to check the back seat for a child? A light on the console? No. Flashing lights, a beeping signal, a voice-actuated signal "Check for child in back seat!" And, of course, this technology is something to come in new cars . . . what about parents who drive older models? Retro-fit.
Several products are available to remind a parent if a child remains in a car seat after the car is turned off. One of the more popular is Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor, which turns on upon sensing a child's weight and sounds a lullaby when the car has stopped; it retails for about $40 and is available online.
A driver-reminder system is needed to prevent such tragedies. An engineer-designed solution using existing sensor technologies already installed in the majority of vehicles has been submitted to the US Patent Office. What's needed is a Congressional mandate requiring all vehicles sold in the United States include this type of driver-reminder alert. In fact, Congress should make this safety addition a condition for receiving any further taxpayer funds. A petition calling for Congress to amend the Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-189) to address hyperthermia needs everyone's help by signing and forwarding the petition to everyone we know as the means to move Congress. http://www.gopetition.com/online/24409.html
Contact your representative in Congress of support this legislation. You can find their names and contact information by entering your zip
code at the following link:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
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