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.