People, if there’s a child in the back seat, and it’s hot out… call the cops.
If the child isn’t moving… pound on the window to try and rouse them. If you can’t…. Go to the opposite front window and break it.
(You’ll have to be creative. It’s not easy to break automotive glass Something hard and concentrated. Or a big ass rock.)
Also, probably preaching to the choir…. But….
DONT LEAVE YOUR KID IN THE FUCKING CAR.
The people that do this aren’t on here.
They are. The people who do this? They are you and me and your neighbor.
Check out this article: Fatal Distraction, it won a Pulitzer Prize. It’s about how the mind works and why this incident keeps happening over and over again.
People on Lemmy can’t afford cars and are too frightened by intimacy to conceive any children
Kids are scary because they remind me of me and I can’t have another one of those bastards running around, muckin about
I thought that but they’re more like your best parts and a pure version of you that your parents didn’t fuck up yet
hashtag fuckcars
Lol maybe Reddit. Maybe. Lemmy is too niche, and most of the Linux nerds here are too autistic to breed
Yes they are. And if you think you’re better than these people and couldn’t forget and have a slip up you are wrong.
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They’re actually right. In most cases people simply forget to put a window down or sometimes that the kid is in the car.
There’s also no need for ableist language like that.
Why leave the kid in the car at all? My kids go inside with me if the wife isn’t there wanting to stay in the car. Doesn’t matter if I’m going in a store for 2 minutes.
The crazy thing is that the news here in the Midwest tells people each year to put something important, like their phone, in the car seat to remember the kid.
Nobody INTENDS to leave their kid in the car to die.
Fatal Distraction is a Pulitzer Prize winning article that examines how the mind works and why this sort of incident keeps happening over and over again.
It’s usually they haven’t slept for days and the kid is asleep in the back.
I saw one where they drove past their kids school and went to work.
No one plans to do this. It’s not hugely common but it does happen.
I was left at the supermarket once. These things happen. But sometimes the consequences are just much bigger.
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No u
Splendid job casually tossing hard Rs out there as Linus would say.
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We hope. Probably preaching to the choir, but even five minutes in 90+, it can get dangerously hot inside a car.
Also, even if it’s not, there’s other dangers. It’s all around just not cool.
I always assumed that was a notice to people stealing cars from the lot.
You know. Make sure the car with the keys wasn’t left running cuz the kid was sleeping.
Definitely don’t want the 3 kinds of hell for stealing a car with a kid in it. (Cops gonna totally blame you aren’t they PIT lil’ Tommy into the ditch.)
It’s not.
Works both ways
Skip calling the cops, if it’s hot break the window THEN call the cops, same for pets. In many places this is now the fully legal thing to do. If you wait even a little bit that can be the difference, you never know how close to death they are even if moving
You can buy keychain tools for breaking windows easily, the trick is something hard and POINTY, really concentrated the force applied
The reason to call the cops right off is so they get there faster.
If the kid is going to die in the seconds it takes to make get them rolling, they’re probably going to die outside the car, too. On the other hand, the sooner they get there, the faster they get advanced care.
Additionally, it provides a bit of legal protection, having dispatch on the phone.
Also, not even animal control will break into a car- they let the cops do that. The last time I dealt with it the cops waited for them to make the call that it was necessary.
There was a puppy in the back of an suv. The window was cracked but the puppy was in a dog crate covered in blankets. The car interior was just under the threshold at like 90 or something, but the crate when they did open it was at like 105. It was a little cocker spaniel that was the sweetest little cuddle-bug.
The assholes left the dog in the back in 90-degree weather to go to a baseball game. The worst part is that they could go pick up the dog after paying a fine. That dog deserved better humans.
Didn’t the Beatles make a song about how it’s perfectly safe to leave a living thing in a hot car?
I thought that one was about letting the baby drive the car. Did they mention the ambient air temperature or any locally posted heat warnings in that one? Can’t remember all the lyrics.
I see it’s time to repost this:
Fatal distraction, a Pulitzer Prize winning article
Tearjerker article about how parents who’ve been through this felt, why it happens, and what car manufacturers could do to prevent it.
I couldn’t finish reading, I am already a mess of tears 10 paragraphs in. I cannot imagine the pain and guilt…
Same.
It still makes me tear up every time I skim it, yeah.
The headline:
Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?
YES! It is and it should be. It’s neglect! There’s no reason to keep reading when the headline asks a bullshit question.
I also wouldn’t read an article titled, Should murder be wrong?
An award winning journalist, the only one to have will two Pulitzers for features, this being one of them: “here’s a horrifying thing that can happen to anyone.”
Some random dipshit: “what an idiot.”
There’s a reason the article won a Pulitzer. Maybe you could give it a try
“That article can’t change my mind because I can’t read!”
I know I’m being pedantic but murder requires intent, it seems that the majority of these cases are manslaughter, still illegal though and just as sad.
Why’s it always gotta be a 2yo. :/
I’ll be sure to hug my daughter extra tomorrow.
I wonder if that’s because it’s one of the most mentally draining ages.
Often the parents forget about them rather than intentionally leave them with no windows open.
I wonder if it’s because 2-year-olds are usually pretty noisy, so when they’ve fallen asleep, it’s easier to forget that they’re even back there.
Probably old enough the parent thinks they’ll be fine on their own for a bit, but young enough to be a hassle to bring along on a “short” errand.
It’s hot enough to cook an egg in there (I think), so please don’t cook your children too. They’re not food.
Really makes you think
I mean, that’s probably the only edible thing you can cook in a hot car.
Ban cars
Feasible in cities and large towns (if they have a reliable public transport infrastructure), not really feasible anywhere else.
Parenting pro tip: Once the car seat is installed, check it every time you leave the car. Even before the baby is born, even if you are currently holding the baby.
Every time I leave a bathroom I go right back in to make sure I flushed. I know I did, but I still do. Same idea, albeit lower stakes.
I don’t understand why this is so common in the US.
Lots of really hot climates, lots of cars, 3rd largest population in the world, and a very active news media.
If India or Africa could afford cars you be hearing about it a lot there too.
3rd largest population in the world
I’m curious how you came about this statistic?
I went to check and US is 2nd in total car population, 8th in cars per capita (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_motor_vehicles_per_capita) with China likely exceeding US around 2020 (statista source estimate not linked because they put up a paywall after I viewed it once)
Still way too many dead children tbh
Uncle Sam gave it to us.
I literally live in a country that’s hotter than the US and this rarely if ever happens. I’m not sure it’s just media bias.
So many possible factors. Family support allowing more sleep, less car-centric cities, less tradition of single parent transporting the kid around while on errands, etc etc.
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I don’t want to shatter your worldview or anything, but the continent of africa has in fact cars. Also a very hot climate.
What they don’t have is american brain rot.
Let’s name a country. Let’s do a 1:1 comparison. I bet we can identify more logical factors than the whimsical notions of, “brain rot.” I bet we can also peel back some not-so-comfortable factoids about said country, too.
Car dependency
Maybe we should require cars, since they are so big, to be reflective painted in such a way that they absorb less heat and passively dissipate heat.
Idiot parents can only do so much.
Maintain air circulation and air conditionning when living presence is detected in the habitacle maintain temperature compatible with life. If needed, crack the windows open automatically.
There you go, that’s one thing…provide a hole at the top of the heat pile…the window cracking option could be one but it is not fail safe. Maybe the top of the roof is open all the time unless the ignition is on. That way if all power fails, there would be air flow through the interior.
Next human detection. That’s nice, but if the roof was solar panels, it could power up a good sized fan. With 100W for example, I was able to power a car radiator fan and that’s like a house extractor fan.
