Two-year-old becomes sixth child to die in a hot car so far this year
Two-year-old becomes sixth child to die in a hot car so far this year
www.independent.co.uk
Two-year-old becomes sixth child to die in a hot car so far this year
123 comments
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I see it's time to repost this:
Fatal distraction, a Pulitzer Prize winning article
Tearjerker article about how parents who've been through this felt, why it happens, and what car manufacturers could do to prevent it.
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FUCK ME
Several people -- including Mary Parks of Blacksburg -- have driven from their workplace to the day-care center to pick up the child they’d thought they’d dropped off, never noticing the corpse in the back seat.
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I didn't want to read the article because I expected horrible things written in there. Like this.
Thanks
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I couldn't finish reading, I am already a mess of tears 10 paragraphs in. I cannot imagine the pain and guilt....
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Same.
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It still makes me tear up every time I skim it, yeah.
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The headline:
Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?
YES! It is and it should be. It's neglect! There's no reason to keep reading when the headline asks a bullshit question.
I also wouldn't read an article titled, Should murder be wrong?
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An award winning journalist, the only one to have will two Pulitzers for features, this being one of them: "here's a horrifying thing that can happen to anyone."
Some random dipshit: "what an idiot."
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There's a reason the article won a Pulitzer. Maybe you could give it a try
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“That article can’t change my mind because I can’t read!”
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I know I'm being pedantic but murder requires intent, it seems that the majority of these cases are manslaughter, still illegal though and just as sad.
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We created laws to require seat belts, maybe it’s time we create laws that require the manufacturers to install tech to detect kids and pets left in hot vehicles and alert the authorities or at the very least sound an alarm.
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Seatbelts are simple. Aside from the big brother distopian nightmare this proposal enables, I'm not convinced such a thing it technically possible.
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I can see the headlines about the first time it’s rolled out… all the headlines are short people being mad that they were flagged as kids
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I've had rental cars chirp back at me when I tried to lock them because my backpack was in the back seat.
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PIR occupancy sensor + thermometer + window open sensor + seat occupancy sensor/scale + door lock/child lock sensor + decibel limit on microphone already in car
Technically possible, yes. Most of the equipment is already there. It's just a matter of tuning everything to work together to solve the specific problem. The bigger problem in my eyes is most people would treat this as a perfect solution instead of a last resort like what happened with Tesla's FSD.
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This is already in a bunch of cars. Just doesn't call police.
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It’s more a question of money than feasibility. I’m pretty sure a couple manufacturers already have basic capabilities similar to this
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Just turn on the fan if there's someone inside and it gets above 40C
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Aside from the big brother distopian nightmare this proposal enables
A car knowing when I left a child in the backseat? Basically the same as my thoughts being censored by Big Brother.
It's my right and my freedom to let people I am responsible for die in a heatwave!
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Some cars have that already. I rented a Hyundai Elantra recently when my car was being serviced. It came with Rear Occupant Alert. Ultrasonic sensors can detect if there's movement in the backseat when a driver exits the vehicle.
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They tried. Lobbyists got Congress to shoot it down.
It's not difficult. Functioning designs already exist. Hell most if not all cars today have weight sensors to determine airbag deployment.
If it saves one kid, then I'm all for it.
By the way: this famous article is a must-read for this topic
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Almost all modern cars (made in the last few years) have some kind of warning when you turn the car off and something is weighing down the backseat. My car has it.
Though it's possible to turn it off, I think it should be required to not be toggle-able.
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Yeet-the-baby-tron™
This brand new tech saves lives!!
\ Upon detecting a small humanoid within the car after it has been locked the system automatically opens the sunroof & violently yeets the human at least 100m in a random direction to maximised it's chances of getting some shade. -
wasn't there something about a car theft with the child in the car and the company wouldn't give the police the gps access because the owner wasn't subscribed? that would be all that happens for this because US and Canada suck at regulating things.
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Please no. Car manufacturers are already terrible with privacy
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Then the problem is with privacy laws that allow abuse and poor regulation, not with more capable cars.
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It can be done in a way that does not affect privacy. If you lock your car while there's still a person detected on the back seat, it will sound an alarm.
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Yup we should let preventable deaths happen just so you can feel an inch more private.
Totally reasonable.
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Why's it always gotta be a 2yo. :/
I'll be sure to hug my daughter extra tomorrow.
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I wonder if that's because it's one of the most mentally draining ages.
Often the parents forget about them rather than intentionally leave them with no windows open.
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I wonder if it's because 2-year-olds are usually pretty noisy, so when they've fallen asleep, it's easier to forget that they're even back there.
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Probably old enough the parent thinks they'll be fine on their own for a bit, but young enough to be a hassle to bring along on a "short" errand.
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Parenting pro tip: Once the car seat is installed, check it every time you leave the car. Even before the baby is born, even if you are currently holding the baby.
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Every time I leave a bathroom I go right back in to make sure I flushed. I know I did, but I still do. Same idea, albeit lower stakes.
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I don't understand why this is so common in the US.
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Lots of really hot climates, lots of cars, 3rd largest population in the world, and a very active news media.
If India or Africa could afford cars you be hearing about it a lot there too.
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3rd largest population in the world
I’m curious how you came about this statistic?
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I literally live in a country that's hotter than the US and this rarely if ever happens. I'm not sure it's just media bias.
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I don't want to shatter your worldview or anything, but the continent of africa has in fact cars. Also a very hot climate.
What they don't have is american brain rot.
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Car dependency
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Maybe we should require cars, since they are so big, to be reflective painted in such a way that they absorb less heat and passively dissipate heat.
Idiot parents can only do so much.
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Maintain air circulation and air conditionning when living presence is detected in the habitacle maintain temperature compatible with life. If needed, crack the windows open automatically.
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There you go, that's one thing...provide a hole at the top of the heat pile...the window cracking option could be one but it is not fail safe. Maybe the top of the roof is open all the time unless the ignition is on. That way if all power fails, there would be air flow through the interior.
Next human detection. That's nice, but if the roof was solar panels, it could power up a good sized fan. With 100W for example, I was able to power a car radiator fan and that's like a house extractor fan.
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Ban cars
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Feasible in cities and large towns (if they have a reliable public transport infrastructure), not really feasible anywhere else.
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123 comments
People, if there’s a child in the back seat, and it’s hot out… call the cops.
If the child isn’t moving… pound on the window to try and rouse them. If you can’t…. Go to the opposite front window and break it.
(You’ll have to be creative. It’s not easy to break automotive glass Something hard and concentrated. Or a big ass rock.)
Also, probably preaching to the choir…. But….
DONT LEAVE YOUR KID IN THE FUCKING CAR.
The people that do this aren’t on here.
They are. The people who do this? They are you and me and your neighbor.
Check out this article: Fatal Distraction, it won a Pulitzer Prize. It's about how the mind works and why this incident keeps happening over and over again.
Yes they are. And if you think you're better than these people and couldn't forget and have a slip up you are wrong.
We hope. Probably preaching to the choir, but even five minutes in 90+, it can get dangerously hot inside a car.
Also, even if it’s not, there’s other dangers. It’s all around just not cool.
Skip calling the cops, if it's hot break the window THEN call the cops, same for pets. In many places this is now the fully legal thing to do. If you wait even a little bit that can be the difference, you never know how close to death they are even if moving
You can buy keychain tools for breaking windows easily, the trick is something hard and POINTY, really concentrated the force applied
The reason to call the cops right off is so they get there faster.
If the kid is going to die in the seconds it takes to make get them rolling, they’re probably going to die outside the car, too. On the other hand, the sooner they get there, the faster they get advanced care.
Additionally, it provides a bit of legal protection, having dispatch on the phone.
Also, not even animal control will break into a car- they let the cops do that. The last time I dealt with it the cops waited for them to make the call that it was necessary.
There was a puppy in the back of an suv. The window was cracked but the puppy was in a dog crate covered in blankets. The car interior was just under the threshold at like 90 or something, but the crate when they did open it was at like 105. It was a little cocker spaniel that was the sweetest little cuddle-bug.
The assholes left the dog in the back in 90-degree weather to go to a baseball game. The worst part is that they could go pick up the dog after paying a fine. That dog deserved better humans.
Didn't the Beatles make a song about how it's perfectly safe to leave a living thing in a hot car?
I'm missing the joke.
I thought that one was about letting the baby drive the car. Did they mention the ambient air temperature or any locally posted heat warnings in that one? Can't remember all the lyrics.