Critical warning for parents after 2-year-old Cobb County boy dies in hot car

COBB COUNTY, GA – One Cobb County family’s heartbreak has become a cautionary tale for parents across metro Atlanta.

Cobb County police said a 2-year-old boy died after being in a car for an extended period of time Tuesday night on Wanda Circle.

Police said they did not believe he was left in the car, but could not say how he got inside.

“When it’s hot, you’re disoriented, these little ones don’t stand a chance,” said Amber Rollins, director of the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety. “It’s something that could happen to even the best parents, no one thinks it’s going to happen to them until it happens.”

Deaths from overheated cars in Georgia

According to Kids and Car Safety, this is the sixth child to die in a hot car nationwide this year and the first in Georgia. The agency also said 46 children have died in hot cars in Georgia since 1993, making Georgia the fifth-highest state for child deaths in hot cars.

The organization also said that 1,089 children have died in hot cars across the country since 1990 and at least 7,500 others have survived with injuries of varying types and severity.

How to avoid deaths from hot cars?

“The vehicle is a greenhouse. It traps and heats up very quickly, and it poses an imminent risk to children in a very short period of time,” she said.

Dr. Cecil Bennett, who practices medicine in Newnan, said heat can quickly affect anyone, especially children.

“The smaller the child, the smaller the body surface area, and the quicker they can be submerged in a matter of minutes. It doesn’t take long,” Dr. Bennett said. “The body of course has natural mechanisms to produce sweat to cool our bodies, but when the heat gets that intense and that quickly, our system quickly becomes overwhelmed and we stop sweating.”

Rollins says about a quarter of the children who die in hot cars got into them themselves.

She says the technology to detect people left in cars has existed since the 1990s, but regulators have been slow to mandate it.

A provision was passed in November 2021 as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a rule by November 2023 on technology in all new cars to help prevent deaths from hot cars, but the final rule is now nearly a year behind the deadline imposed by Congress, Rollins’ organization said.

“Children continue to die,” she said. “There is no excuse because the technology exists to detect a child in a vehicle and alert the driver, by standards or even authorities.”

Safety Tips for Parents and Guardians

Create simple habits to keep your child safe:

• Make sure your child is never left alone in a car.
• Place the child’s diaper bag or item on the front passenger seat as a visual signal that the child is with you.
• Make it a habit to open the back door every time you park to make sure no one gets left behind. To reinforce this habit, place an item you can’t do without at the start of your day in the back seat (employee badge, laptop, phone, purse, etc.)
• Ask your child care provider to call you immediately if your child has not arrived as expected.
• Clearly announce and confirm who is removing each child from the vehicle. Miscommunication may lead to the perception that someone else has removed the child.

Make sure children cannot get into a parked car:

• Keep vehicles locked at all times, especially in the garage or driveway. Ask neighbors and visitors to do the same.
• Never leave car keys within reach of children.
• Use childproof door handle guards and door alarms to prevent children from leaving your home unnoticed.
• Teach children to honk their horn or turn on hazard lights if they are trapped inside a car.
• If a child goes missing, immediately and thoroughly check the interior, floor and trunk of all vehicles in the area, even if they are locked.