News newpaper article & questions....will 'cause debates

aloudwhisper

New member
ok so today i read the local paper they are talking about the whole deal with kids getting left in cars & dying, well they are saying that the new 2yrs or 30lbs rf'ing will increase this although it doesn't specify how, it just says in 1990 when rf'ing rules changed more kids died locked in cars so i'm assuming they are taking old info & assuming it will follow trend.
now i'm all for extended rf'ing but i'm also a bit leniant (sp?) my almost 7yr old has been in a booster since age 3 due to male issues, my sd has been boostered since about 3 1/2 or 4yrs she'll be 6 in oct..... my now 4yr old i will allow in a booster if for a certain reason but she's 99% in her radian, my 2yr old rode in a booster 1 time 5mins down the rode & sat better than my big kids but she won't be out of her radian for a long time either nor will my 4mth old be ff anytime soon.
but this brings me to the article my first thoughts were if this is true & more kids will be left in cars to die than why are we making the age limits higher god forbid i ever leave my kids in the car i would hope it would be one in a booster so if thinking the above article is true would you consider ff'ing sooner & boostering sooner or would you just assume you'd never leave your child in a car? as the article said we think were great parents & we'd never do such a thing but then we find the person that did just that. in the article the mom buckles a teddy bear in the front seat that says got(kids name) to make sure she checks the back seat.
honestly my kids have rode all different ways mainly because i couldn't fit them another way or couldn't afford it but i'm curious how others view this like i said it doesn't state a reason how rf'ing longer & being left to die in the car are connected but it does say it.
 
ADS

Polola0628

Active member
So people who look in the rear-view mirror and don't see their kid's face forget about them?

Sorry, but out of sight, out of mind doesn't apply to my child. I don't see how that's even a valid arguement.

And please don't booster your 2 year old again- regardless of how short the ride is. I forget who's siggy it was but.. "Skipping the car seat because it's just a short ride is like skipping the condom because it's just a quickie." :twocents:
 

Evolily

New member
Approximately (the numbers vary a lot, but approximately) 38 children die from hyperthermia in cars per year. Half, about 19, die due to being forgotten (others are intentionally left, or are playing in the car and cannot escape). I can not find any data saying how many children are rear facing, and how many forward facing, I think that would be interesting (I suspect many are forward facing).

While those are 19 deaths too many, they pale in comparison to the 430 children under 5 killed in automobile accidents in 2009. I am certain a good portion of those deaths, especially in children under two, could be prevented by ERF. The argument I often hear is it's a reason to put kids in the front seat, but again, a big reason why our fatality rates in children have dropped dramatically is that most kids now ride in the back seat. More kids would die, I'd imagine, than would be saved.

And anyone who thinks they wouldn't forget their kids given the right circumstances is, IMnsHO, fooling themselves.
 

Ladyl

New member
I actually posted a similar article about this. Turns out the article is wrong. The push in the 90's was not for kids to be rfing, but to sit in the backseat.
 

Evolily

New member
Random thought- when did vehicle AC systems become popular? Hyperthermia is due, in large part, the car becoming a solar oven. If you don't have AC in your car you ride with the windows down as far as they go, and don't always bother to roll them up, especially if your windows roll up manually. Even if you forget your kid in the car with the windows rolled down the inside if car shouldn't be much hotter than the outside of the vehicle, and if the child starts screaming they would be more noticeable to a good samaritan.

If they became popular when I think they did (the 90's) I bet that is as good a hypothesis for the apparent increase in deaths as keeping kids in the back seat/rear facing/whatever.
 

mumof2

New member
both my children especally my 3 and a half year old are far too noisy for me to forget them.

but in saying that I have heard that doing something like putting your bag behind the drivers seat so when you get out of hte car and open the passenger door you can see that your child is there.


for me no I personally will not forward face early because there is an off chance that I may forget them.
 

gsdguenter

Well-known member
both my children especally my 3 and a half year old are far too noisy for me to forget them.

:yeahthatlove:

I don't at all see the connection between rfing and an increase in kids passing away from hyperthermia from being left in cars. :confused:
 

Baylor

New member
Yeah, Don't worry about the car seats. Yesterday, I was at the grocery store and there was a 5 yr old girl in the car alone. Just as I was getting out of the car to get license plate and call police, her mom got in the car.

Car seats are not to blame, In most cases it is overworked tired parents and in the other cases, Just plain stupidity.
 
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Brigala

CPST Instructor
I can see how RF could slightly increase the risk for forgetting your child in the car. Especially with a convertible seat (with an infant bucket, usually the seat isn't in the car if the child isn't, and the seat can serve as a reminder). But forward facing doesn't automatically make your child unforgettable.

I'll fess up and admit that I've accidentally left a child in a car before. It was only for a few minutes, but I still felt like crap. She was a 5 y.o. forward facing child I was babysitting along with maybe 4 or 5 of her siblings. When I went to unload the van and unbuckle all the kids, she wouldn't let me unbuckle her car seat because "I can do it!!!" I did leave the door to the car open for her, but as I herded the rest of the kids into the house I didn't take a head count right away. I noticed she was not there maybe 5 or 10 minutes later. Not long enough for hyperthermia (especially since I'd left the door open) but long enough for her to seriously panic.

I like the idea of alarms for car seats to help remind parents when there's a child in the car, but I don't know how well they work. Regardless, as a PP said, 19 deaths per year from accidentally leaving children in a hot car pales in comparison to the number of child fatalities on our streets and highways.
 

luckyclov

New member
I forget who's siggy it was but.. "Skipping the car seat because it's just a short ride is like skipping the condom because it's just a quickie."
It was safeinthecar's siggy. I was sad when she changed it because it made me giggle a little every time I read it.
 
My kids are busy arguing about who is going to get out of their carseats first and are WAY to vocal about being upset that they didn't get to go first for me to forget them.

I agree that kids are left in cars by overworked, overstressed, over tired parents.

just another random thought --
I'm not saying that working moms are wrong for working (because plenty of working moms are not over worked, over stressed, or over tired), but I wonder if more kids started dying in cars when more moms went back to work. I grew up in the 80's and there were SO many stay at home moms. A lot of those moms started to go back to work in the 90's, and daycares were a booming business.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I actually posted a similar article about this. Turns out the article is wrong. The push in the 90's was not for kids to be rfing, but to sit in the backseat.

Yep. When my first son was born (in '94) a lot of information still recommended putting infants in the front seat when driving alone with the baby, so the driver could "keep an eye" on the baby. My oldest nearly always rode in the front passenger seat the first year of his life, unless there was another adult with us. Infant seats didn't have bases and not many cars had passenger airbags, so it was no problem to put him in the front seat if it was just me & him, or in the center rear if it was me & dh.
 

christineka

New member
I'll admit I've forgotten my kids a few times. It has nothing to do with rfing. It's the fact that the child is in the back seat, there's only one of them (I could never forget two or more of them), and the child is either being very quiet or asleep. Of course, being who I am, surrounded by kids all day, there comes a point, usually 5-10 minutes later, when I stop to think, "where is so and so?" That's when I will remember, "Oh no! I forgot to get so and so out of the car!" It just happens that these days the child is rfing because I keep them rfing to age 4 and past that they usually don't fall asleep in the car for short drives. Also, I usually have the youngest if I'm driving with only one child.
 

henrietta

Well-known member
I can certainly see where parents began leaving kids in locked cars more often when the rules changed to keep them rearfacing longer and in the backseat changed. It makes sense to me. But it also makes sense that at the same time, more mommies were going back to work and there were more caregivers involved and more driving. People pack so much in their schedules now that is unnecessary--we are too busy to think clearly. In almost all cases of this happening, it is when a different parent or caregiver was supposed to drop the child off somewhere, and it was not in their routine. It is rarely a form of abuse or a deliberate attempt to kill their child. And I can also see how someone can forget their child in the car--I've done it before--in my driveway. I had to go to the bathroom so bad...my baby was asleep...I ran inside to go...and got distracted. Luckily, it wasn't too warm out and I'd left the car open...but what if I'd misjudged? What if? a million things ran through my mind!!!!

I have a lot of empathy for someone this happens to...same as I would for any parent who lost their child to a terrible accident. Most accidents are preventable, but that doesn't mean they will never happen.

As for would I forward face sooner or move to a booster sooner for that reason??? Not a chance!!!!! We are thousands of times more likely to get in a car accident than I am to forget my kid in the car--and now I force myself to slow down--to drag my kids in the bathroom w/me at Target even if I need to *really go* so that I don't feel that pressure to leave one of them in the car.

henrietta
 

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