In May, a three-year-old boy died after being left in a hot car by his father in Burlington, Ont. In June, a six-month-old baby died in a hot car in Montreal.
The deaths are heartbreaking; they happen every summer; and they can be prevented. As the weather heats up in Victoria, parents have to be mindful of the dangers.
Every year, an estimated four to six children die in sa国际传媒 because they are left in vehicles that get lethally hot. In most cases, the parents say they forgot the children were in the back seat.
Does technology offer hope for those days when no observant bystanders are nearby? A coroner in Quebec thinks so.
Coroner Denyse Langelier probed the death of 11-month-old Jacob Ethier-Magnan, who died in August 2017 after his father forgot to drop him at daycare and left him in his car seat. Langelier said vehicles should be equipped with sensors that would alert a driver when someone was in the backseat as they got out of the car.
Carmakers balk at the cost and regulators debate the kind of technology to be used, but surely that is a nut that can be cracked.
Some General Motors cars have a light on the dashboard that says: 鈥淟ook in the rear seat,鈥� when the car is turned off. Something as simple as that, with an audible reminder, could save lives.
