# Texas toddler dies after mom leaves her in a hot car for 45 minutes **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728 "2010-06-18T23:51:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@Joanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joanie)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/1 "2010-06-18T23:51:04Z")
This is getting to be an epidemic! Maybe someone needs to invent a combination alarm clock/beeper that will beep a parent five minutes after they leave a kid in a car? Or - better yet - maybe we need to take away children from parents who leave them locked inside a hot car on a hot day? Or do places like Texas, Oklahoma and Utah deserve special treatment? > **[Texas toddler dies after her mother leaves her in a hot car for 45 minutes...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1287621/Texas-toddler-dies-mother-leaves-hot-car-45-minutes.html)** > > Temperatures outside the car had soared to nearly 33 degrees. Now prosecutors in Texas are considering whether to charge the mother. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/2 "2010-06-19T00:03:10Z")
I could at least see some sort of system that would automatically vent your car based on the internal temperature. I’d like to have something that detected that someone was in there, but I’m not sure how that could be accomplished. Motion sensors? Then again, such assurances would be grabbed onto by people who want to leave their kids in the car. You’d have to balance that out. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/3 "2010-06-19T00:03:37Z")
I’m unable to find the specific article right now, but when [this incident](http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100603076) of a baby being left in a car happed in a neighboring town earlier this month, the story offered some brilliant advice to prevent it from happening again. Paraphrasing: “Place something important in the back seat of your car – something that you’ll be unlikely to forget, like your wallet or pocketbook”. Or maybe…and I know this might be a crazy thought…but just maybe your _ **baby** _… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/4 "2010-06-19T00:04:28Z")
I heard on the radio about a device that already exists that would detect the weight of a baby in a baby seat and would beep a reminder when the car stopped and door opened, similar to the reminder when you leave your keys in the ignition. (Not sure of the exact details of how it worked, but it was something like that). some group tried to make it mandatory for all new cars but failed. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/5 "2010-06-19T00:29:54Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > I’m unable to find the specific article right now, but when [this incident](http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100603076) of a baby being left in a car happed in a neighboring town earlier this month, the story offered some brilliant advice to prevent it from happening again. Paraphrasing: > > “Place something important in the back seat of your car – something that you’ll be unlikely to forget, like your wallet or pocketbook”. > > Or maybe…and I know this might be a crazy thought…but just maybe your _ **baby** _… Actually there was an article by some neuroscientists I read several months ago about why this happens all the time. (It’s shockingly common – about 30 deaths a year.) It has to do with how people get into such a routine that they do things without even thinking about them – take the same roads to work every day, park in the same spot, etc. It’s easy for the brain to forget that “today something different is happening”, especially when the infant is typically in a rear-facing seat, where she is invisible to the driver. They also said the solution is that whenever you put the baby in the car seat on what is your normal commute, also put something in the back that you need for work. When you retrieve that item, it will force you to see the baby. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/6 "2010-06-19T00:36:15Z")
[This article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html) (which won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize, incidentally) is a very good look at this topic, although extremely difficult to read. (At least, it was for me.) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/7 "2010-06-19T02:17:03Z")
It’s tempting to judge these parents harshly, because by telling yourself that it couldn’t happen to GOOD parents, it could never happen to YOUR child, because you are a GOOD parent. Until it does. Because it could happen to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/8 "2010-06-19T02:47:39Z")
> [@Joanie](#): > > snip > > Or - better yet - maybe we need to take away children from parents who leave them locked inside a hot car on a hot day? um, I think that’s what has happened here yes? You don’t really get to keep the baby if it dies. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/9 "2010-06-19T03:03:44Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > [This article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html) (which won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize, incidentally) is a very good look at this topic, although extremely difficult to read. (At least, it was for me.) I remember that article, we ha a thread about it. It broke my heart. And it game a whole lot of understanding and pity for those parents. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/10 "2010-06-19T03:20:13Z")
> [@Miss\_Violaceous](#): > > It’s tempting to judge these parents harshly, because by telling yourself that it couldn’t happen to GOOD parents, it could never happen to YOUR child, because you are a GOOD parent. > > Until it does. Because it could happen to anyone. What? I’m not going to judge at all, but I’m 100% confident I will never do that. I’d be just as likely to forget to pull the ripcord while skydiving - not going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/11 "2010-06-19T03:26:09Z")
15 years ago, I used to drive my daughter to preschool, on my way to work. Not every day, but perhaps twice a week. Her car seat was behind me, the driver. So, looking in the rear view mirror, I might not see her if she weren’t sitting erect. One day, I put her in the car, started off for work, probably had something related to work or something else on my mind, and drove down the road 5 miles before she made a noise in the back seat. If she hadn’t done that, I might have gone to work, gotten out and, if I were in too big a hurry, left her in the car. I hope I wouldn’t have, but I might have. Obviously no one does this deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/12 "2010-06-19T03:27:32Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > What? I’m not going to judge at all, but I’m 100% confident I will never do that. I’d be just as likely to forget to pull the ripcord while skydiving - not going to happen. From your lips to the ears of your god. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/13 "2010-06-19T03:35:56Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > [This article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html) (which won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize, incidentally) is a very good look at this topic, although extremely difficult to read. (At least, it was for me.) I was so happy when I heard this won the Pulitzer. It’s the only news article that ever made me cry. I think the general public confuses those who deliberately leave children in a hot car with those who have a brain fart and forget the child is strapped in the seat. The deliberately left children almost never die, _because the parent knows they’re back there_ and will return for them. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/14 "2010-06-19T03:38:14Z")
> [@Miss\_Violaceous](#): > > It’s tempting to judge these parents harshly, because by telling yourself that it couldn’t happen to GOOD parents, it could never happen to YOUR child, because you are a GOOD parent. > > Until it does. Because it could happen to anyone. It can’t happen to me. ---
**Author:** ![valleyofthedolls](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a4c791/32.png) [@valleyofthedolls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/valleyofthedolls)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/15 "2010-06-19T03:48:21Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It can’t happen to me. You should read the article upthread. If it happened to those parents then it can happen to you or anyone else. You aren’t any different than them. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/16 "2010-06-19T03:55:14Z")
I am 100% certain that it would not happen to me. I am too keenly aware – to the point of distraction – when I have a baby in the car. I’m on my third baby and haven’t forgotten one yet. I will say that I’ve had lapses for a few seconds when getting out of the car and starting to walk away, but I’ve always caught myself in time. I get the brainfart thing, but I can’t imagine being able to forget for hours at a time. ---
**Author:** ![valleyofthedolls](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a4c791/32.png) [@valleyofthedolls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/valleyofthedolls)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/17 "2010-06-19T04:01:58Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I am 100% certain that it would not happen to me. I am too keenly aware – to the point of distraction – when I have a baby in the car. > > I’m on my third baby and haven’t forgotten one yet. > > I will say that I’ve had lapses for a few seconds when getting out of the car and starting to walk away, but I’ve always caught myself in time. I get the brainfart thing, but I can’t imagine being able to forget for hours at a time. As I said, you (and everyone else who claims they would could never, would never do such a thing) are no different than the parents in the article. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/18 "2010-06-19T04:04:18Z")
> [@valleyofthedolls](#): > > As I said, you (and everyone else who claims they would could never, would never do such a thing) are no different than the parents in the article. I agree. And no, it probably won’t happen to you, because there are only a handful of deaths like this each year in a nation of 300 million people. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have some pity for those poor parents. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/19 "2010-06-19T04:05:42Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I agree. And no, it probably won’t happen to you, because there are only a handful of deaths like this each year in a nation of 300 million people. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have some pity for those poor parents. You haven’t met **Dio** , have you? He’s about as absolutist as anyone I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728/20 "2010-06-19T04:06:30Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It can’t happen to me. How about saying it is unlikely to happen to you, not that it **can’t** happen to you? It CAN happen to you - there is a combination of events and circumstances that can occur to make it happen to you. The idea is to be aware that it can happen to anyone and do everything in your power to not let that combination of circumstances fall into place, not to placidly, smugly avow that you are the one parent on the planet who is exempt from making a fatal mistake. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-toddler-dies-after-mom-leaves-her-in-a-hot-car-for-45-minutes/543728.md?page=2)