Hot car deaths rise in the United States this year
As of 2024, 27 child hot car deaths were reported in the United States so far. AccuWeather's Bernie Rayno speaks with highway safety specialist Laura Dunn on how these tragedies can be prevented.
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00:00Is the heat this summer adding to more deaths than other years?
00:05Well, unfortunately, we've had 27 deaths so far this year,
00:09not the most we've ever had, but certainly every death from heat stroke is a tragedy.
00:14Yeah, and the question is, is, Ms. Dunn, how do we stop or reduce these tragedies? What can we do?
00:22Well, we want to encourage people to never leave your children in the car,
00:26not even for a short amount of time. No amount of time is safe for children to be left in a car.
00:31We want to encourage parents to stop, look, and lock. Always look in your back seat for your
00:37child before locking and leaving your car. And make sure you're locking your car when you're
00:42not driving. Keep those keys and key fobs stowed away from kids so they're not able to get into a
00:48car and then not able to get out. Now, I know in my new vehicle, I have
00:54actually, when I turn off the car, I have a little message that comes up on my monitor,
00:59check rear seats. Is the NHTSA working with car manufacturers to continue to update and make
01:07these safety improvements? We are. We continue to do research
01:11about some of those countermeasures. So we look forward to continuing to do that research and
01:17making cars safer for kids and their families. Another thing that I would say is for the general
01:23public, if you see a child in distress in a vehicle, act immediately. Call 911 immediately
01:28and get help because every minute counts to make a difference for that child.
01:34Laura Dunn, Highway Safety Specialist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
01:39Thank you for joining us.