Yes them is correct. Early reports said it was a company van that he was not authorized to have and that he set it on fire in retaliation but that was later recounted I guess but I failed to read the later reports. I’m happy to have someone checking my work.
Just thinking though when I leave my Acura running and get out of the car with the key fob in my pocket, the thing beeps like crazy telling me the car is still running. Maybe we are to the point where kids need to wear bracelets with not only gps chips but would beep if you got out of the car and the kids were still in it? Seems far better than a law requiring all cars to have the device and all buyers to pay for it regardless of need. Still I gotta say that a sleeping kid in a car seat in the back of an SUV can be forgotten especially when parents switch off driving the kids from one day to the next. School bus drivers have also more than once forgotten kids riding on the bus, even though they are supposed to check the bus at the end of their day. (There is a shortage of drivers so quality may suffer.)
There was a storey here a few year’s ago about a school bus driver not checking the bus at the end of the day & leaving a young kid sleeping in back of the bus.
There have been a few of those incidents in my state, and luckily the bus companies saw fit to fire those employees. However, that type of incident is much more likely to be a case of pure laziness than anything else. In the case of a parent, I just have a hard time accepting that someone can not be aware that his own kid (or in the case of a recent NY tragedy–two kids) is sitting right behind him.
Let us assume for the moment that someone is distracted, or “stressed”. What about the accepted safety practice of frequently checking one’s rear-view mirror? I probably don’t go more than a minute or so between checks of my rear-view mirror. A parent who claims that he doesn’t know that his kid(s) is/are in the back seat is someone who apparently NEVER bothers to look in his mirror while driving.
I’m not trying to make excuses for the parents at all but just looking at contributing environmental factors. Have you looked through the rear view mirror in an SUV lately? You can’t hardly see the rear window let alone a small child backwards in a car seat. It’s those dang high seat backs and head rests. Try to turn your head to see where you’re backing and forget it.
I can’t speak to the conditions in other vehicles, but in my Outback, and in my friend’s Rav-4, the rear seat is clearly visible in the rear-view mirror.
I have been a few of those SUV’s & would not own one my 2 pickup’s are regular cab no problem with rear view’s or if need to can turn & look out back window.
I relegate poobahs to The Honeymooners. The standard is what works. I often read articles in medical journals about a therapy that has been found ineffective, the editors calling for it to be stopped. That would be the same in this case: if alarm systems decrease these incidents, we would keep them.
Then the alarm will make it more likely that we prosecute them. We’re prone to give parents lots of latitude in raising their own children.
I say judgment is irrelevant. If a policy results in fewer deaths of children, I’m for it.
I’ve fallen asleep in a city bus and found myself on the way to the lot. Young kids are little; when they sleep, they slump down. Buses have 11 aisles, are 40 feet long - do you think you can see an 8-year-old asleep in the back row?
That is precisely why the protocol for school bus drivers in my state requires that they do a “walk-through” of the bus at the end of their shift. When kids are discovered–hours later–in a locked school bus in a locked parking lot, the reason for the belated discovery is the laziness of the bus driver–pure and simple.
If this protocol doesn’t exist in your state, you should urge your state representatives to introduce this type of legislation. No, it doesn’t eliminate these incidents totally, but it does eliminate the drivers from that job after one infraction.
I’m not arguing against the alarm. Although I’d hope it could be set up so that it almost never triggers a false alarm, because as we’ve learned from normal car alarms, too many false positives means everyone just ignores it.
I think you are 100% correct. Infant deaths in hot cars is thankfully rare. A low tech aid was offered. A rear view mirror hanger similar to a handicap parking hanger. One side is red stating “Baby In”. The other side is green stating “Baby Out”. I love simplicity. Of course it is not 100% foolproof as it relies on hairless apes to look at it. It does remind me of the supposed urban legend that NASA invested over a million dollars to create a ball point pen that would function in zero gravity. The Russians simply used pencils. With 3 decades of experience military and Department of Defense with much in logistics I suspect it is true. Motion detectors? How much do sleeping babies move? I have an idea for tech. My car chimes when I turn on the ignition and my seat belt is not buckled. Could it also chime when I turn off the ignition and a seat belt is buckled. I’m not familiar with keyless ignition but think the chime could also be activated when a door is opened.
I also have never accidentally left a child in the car. I have intentionally left them in the car for a few minutes which apparently is now a crime in some places.
In Oregon we are allowed to break a window if it is hot or a child/pet appears to be in distress. I have a window break-out tool in my car which I have thankfully never had to use.
I saw the video of the car seat left on the roof. I have seen at least two milk jugs left on the roof before driving away. Fortunately the kid survived. The milk jugs did not.
My work trucks make an incredibly loud and obnoxious buzzing when doors are opened and key is on. And yet, at least twice a year I have to jump start a truck in the morning because someone turned the engine off, but then exited with the ignition key still on…
I guess bottom line is that bad things are going to happen, period. We try to prevent them in reasonable ways but in the end, yes people will die. That is just life. I read a report once proposing to eliminate all injuries in the state. Not going to happen as much as some people think it is their duty to eliminate all pain and injuries. So if you are the forgetful type, take a dog leash and hook it to the car seat, take the other end and hook it to your belt before you start the car. Like the string tied around your finger. Cheap and effective.
The dog leash idea is the best I have seen in discussion so far & as you said string tied on finger cheap & effective & older than we are if only forgetful would remember to use it.
