For Ellen Walston, Injury Prevention Program coordinator at ECU Health Medical Center and Safe Kids Pitt County, the message she wants to get out is simple: “Never leave a child, senior or pet alone in a car, even for a minute.”
Walston’s message was amplified at a Hot Car Safety event in June hosted by ECU Health in partnership with the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, Pitt County Health Department and the Martin-Pitt Partnership for Children, to demonstrate how quickly cars heat up.
The event included a demonstration with temperature gauges and s’mores roasting in a vehicle on hot, summer day. During an overcast, 88-degree day, the interior of the van rose to 113 degrees within 15 minutes.
The s’mores demonstration showed how quickly things can, quite literally, cook inside of a car when left alone. Volunteers handed out the s’mores to shoppers to explain the demonstration in a fun, interactive away.
“We host these types of events to raise awareness so parents are realizing how hot cars can become,” said Walston. “A car can heat 20 degrees in as quickly in 10 minutes. In our display today, it is already 113 degrees, and it’s only 86 degrees outside.”
According to Walston, about 17 percent of hot car fatalities occur in children intentionally left in the car. During this time, parents or caregivers are often running into the store or running an errand for a few minutes, thinking that will be fine.
“A lot of times, people think ‘I’m just going into the store for a few minutes,’ but anything could happen inside, from losing track of time to becoming distracted and forget the child,” Walston said. “There is a misnomer that if you crack a window and that will offer some less heat, but that really is a myth. It doesn’t affect the temperature of the car or cool the temperature down.”
Walston said it’s dangerous for anyone to be left alone in a vehicle because of how quickly they can heat up, but especially for children.
“Children’s bodies heat three to five times more quickly than adults,” Walston said. “They all have a smaller amount of body surface so they can’t cool themselves very quickly. A small child, like the families we’re serving today, they can’t verbalize when they’re thirsty if they’re under a certain age.”
More than 50 percent of child deaths from hot cars are children forgotten in vehicles, according to Walston. She said children can be forgotten when routines are broken, and leaving something like keys, a cellphone or a briefcase in the backseat next to the child or setting an alarm on your phone are extra safety measures one can take to ensure the child is not left in the car.
Walston encouraged attendees to call 911 if they ever see a child, senior or pet alone in a call.
“This is something parents really need to take seriously,” said North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey. “It’s year-round, not necessarily just during the hottest months of the summer. We have had children die in November and other months outside of June, July and August.”
