Don’t Leave Children in a Hot Car

It seems like a no-brainer: Don’t lock your children inside hot cars and leave them there. Yet, in the last 10 years, more than 300 children have died from heat after being left in an unattended car and child safety advocates want parents to understand the dangers.

 

Right now, only 11 states have laws that make it a crime to leave a child in an unattended vehicle. Seven more states have laws pending. But Heather Paul, executive director of the National Safe Kids Campaign, a group that works to protect children from all kinds of dangers, says awareness probably can do more than laws to solve the problem.

“I think now, with much more indignation on the part of so many of us and more media attention, perhaps we can bring these numbers down,” she said. “I think the laws of child endangerment, in general, cover this egregious situation. I think even more important than the language of the law is education. And that’s what we’re dealing with — the ignorance of parents who don’t know the consequences of heat, and they’re paying a terrible price.” To read more about this growing problem: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/storynew?id=125917&page=1#.UeVvJ9XD-Ul