My comment was directed at those posters who said that even diligent responsible people (like those posters) want/need that added layer of protection. Just now much high-tech state mandated protection do prudent responsible people really need?
I don’t think that end of the scale is in dispute - stupid people do stupid things. The incidence of accident doesn’t vanish to zero at the smart end of the scale, would be my only point.
OK, on this, I’m not sure. Dumb people drop things (including things that are babies) more than smart people? Maybe, I guess, but I wouldn’t think intelligence is the most significant factor in this particular category.
Prudent responsible people can still get distracted and make mistakes. Anyone who thinks this could never happen to them because they are too careful is probably deluding themselves.
"…if you inadvertently leave Junior in the car…"
Huh?
How on EARTH would one “inadvertently” leave a child in a car?
Are you reading anything in this thread? Read the Washington Post article. Anybody can do this.
ETA: beaten by Acsenray. Not trying to pile on.
@Me Billy: Did you bother to read any of this thread and the linked articles???
It happens very frequently across the country. As a percentage of the times kids ride in cars it’s a very, very, very small fraction. But multiplied by the number of such rides nationwide that tiny fraction kills a bunch of kids every year and risks a whole a bunch more every single week.
OTOH, Me Billy’s incredulity here pretty well exemplifies the source of problem. Both the problem of folks’ forgetting & killing kids, and the problem of folks demanding silly responses to people inadvertently killing kids.
OK, I read the article. I STILL have no idea how anyone could forget about a child in a car???
So far as “anyone” can do this, not me!
Bullshit. You have the same flawed human brain that everyone else has.
And why is that a problem? A conventional (gasoline powered) car could easily be designed so that it turns on the engine & air conditioner whenever the interior temperature reaches a preset limit. (Though I suppose some other method may be needed to make sure this doesn’t happen in an enclosed garage.)
This article talks about this feature on the Tesla, but also mentions a different fix GM is including in some of their vehicles:
Same as you can inadvertently crash a plane into a mountain or inadvertently cut off your arm with a bandsaw. Severity of outcome doesn’t prevent accidents from happening.
That is probable the best idea so far. It would work for groceries, dry cleaning, anything. It wouldn’t have to just be a baby reminder.
When my nephew was young I put him on my shoulders and gave him a ride around the house. He squealed and laughed until I galloped through a doorway. He’s thirty now and every time he does something stupid, people bring up that horsey ride.
Tesla has already found a solution to hot car deaths.
My central thesis is that you can’t tighten all the screws so that something NEVER happens. The law of diminishing returns will start beating you to death in terms of cost, both economic and personal liberty.
There is a scale on which some people are so slipshod, they display all kinds of behavioral and lifestyle dysfunctions, and low education and income are often an effect (not a cause) of that. People who forget babies in cars are highly likely to have gravitated into this visible demographic. Outliers do not prove that false.
You might have something there. Secure baby to the car seat with a couple deck screws and there’s no way to forget baby in the car, what with all the screaming.
And is your thesis that we have already reached that point? Based on what data about economics, technology, and probability?
Where is your data that the people who leave their kids in cars who are not slipshod, poorly educated, poor, and without behavioral and lifestyle functions are “outliers”?
I agree with you entirely on this point. There is nothing to be done - solutions are either unacceptable to the majority of people upon whom they would be needlessly imposed, or are expensive or difficult.
I’m not so sure I agree on this point - but evidence in the form of statistics would be interesting.
It is my general impression (based only on vague memories of anecdotes, so not at all scientific) that these cases seem to include stories of relatively intelligent or successful businespeople who accidentally leave their kid in the car because of some small watershed moment in their daily routine.
I have to broadly disagree, we are reaching the point with all new cars where the sensors required to put a solution in place are there already, it is merely a software change not a massively expensive hardware re-think.
Can we all think up a scenario that defeats these safeguards? certainly, but we can reduce the chances of this happening by orders of magnitude even if we can’t eradicate the possibility entirely.
The fact that you think it couldn’t be you actually makes you a greater risk. I can explain to you why that is if you like but I’m sure someone so sharp and aware can work it out for themselves.