NHTSA-Led Tweetup Aims to Prevent Child Heatstroke Deaths

CARS.COM — Twelve children have died so far this year of in-car heatstroke. That’s 12 too many, and today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be using Twitter, under the handle of @NHTSAgov, to raise awareness about the dangers of heatstroke by tweeting every 15 minutes for 24 hours.

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Nearly every 10 days, in-car heatstroke kills a child in the U.S., according to NHTSA. These preventable deaths can happen quickly. A car’s internal temperature can be 20 degrees higher than the outside temperature within 10 minutes; within 30 minutes, the difference between the inside of the car and the outside air can be 34 degrees.

Children are especially susceptible to heatstroke because their bodies warm faster than an adult’s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A child’s body temperature can reach 106 degrees in just 10 to 15 minutes.

With summer weather coming in full force, parents need to remain vigilant and community members need to be alert to prevent more children dying from in-car heatstroke.

What Parents Can Do

• Stash a purse, workbag or cellphone on the car’s floor behind the driver’s seat, which will force you to open the rear door and check for your child.
• Keep a stuffed animal in your child’s car seat. When you put your child in the seat, move the stuffed animal to the front passenger seat as a reminder that you’ve got a little one in the backseat.
• Arrange that your daycare provider calls you within 10 minutes of the usual drop-off time if your spouse fails to drop off your child with the caretaker.

What Community Members Can Do

• If you see a child in a parked car, check that he or she is responsive.
• If the child isn’t responsive, call 911 and then try to get the child out of the car – even if that means breaking a window. To break a car window, hit it in one of its lower corners, the weakest point.
• If the child responds to you, attempt to find the parents. If another adult is with you, one person should stay with the child in the car and the other should alert the store’s security detail, or have the car’s owner paged over the store’s public address system. If you’re alone, stay with the car and instead call the store where the car is parked.

Together, we can prevent more children dying of in-car heatstroke. Join the conversation online today on Twitter using the hashtag #HeatStrokeKills.