Saturday, March 07, 2009

Unintended consequences: death by hyperthermia

Each year 15-25 kids die of hyperthermia when a child is forgotten and is left in a hot car. WaPo:
Two decades ago, this was relatively rare. But in the early 1990s, car-safety experts declared that passenger-side front airbags could kill children, and they recommended that child seats be moved to the back of the car; then, for even more safety for the very young, that the baby seats be pivoted to face the rear. If few foresaw the tragic consequence of the lessened visibility of the child . . . well, who can blame them?

2 comments:

Scooter said...

I can't think of anything worse for a harried parent.

I guess my sleeping on the shelf above the back seat of Dad's Impala would be frowned upon today.

Stephanie said...

High visibility, though. Of course, back in the day when kids rode around on that shelf, we didn't roll up windows or lock car doors, unless it looked like rain...