Babies, cars and high temperatures: A deadly mix

MISSISSAUGA — Gary Nickerson isn’t one to stand idly by while babies and pets are left unattended in sweltering cars during summer.

With high temperatures about to return to the city, the Erin Mills resident is ramping up a one-man campaign to warn people that the practice often has tragic consequences.

Last year, a Milton toddler died when he was left in a hot car on a 30 C day.

Also last year, a similar incident in Edmonton resulted in the death of a 3-year-old girl.

Here in Mississauga, a woman was charged last summer after leaving a dog in a parked car near Dundas St. E. and Dixie Rd.

The list goes on.

“It’s a terrible way to die,” said Nickerson. “Yet, despite all the warnings and stories in newspapers, people still do it.”

Last September Nickerson appeared before councillors and succeeded in persuading the City to produce warning signs to be distributed to mall and business owners to place on their doors and windows.

Nickerson says the initiative had to be vetted first by the City’s bylaw enforcement department before the signs could be printed. But now they’re available and Nickerson’s ready to go. So far he’s distributed about 100 of the signs, including to large businesses like Walmart, the TD Bank and No Frills.

He jokingly says that, ideally, he’ll like to put one on every vehicle in parking lots. That way, people couldn’t possibly miss seeing them.

What sometimes happens, he says, is that people leave a child or dog in a car with the window slightly open while they run into a store. They then get distracted or delayed.

Nickerson said parents should never assume they’re just going to be in the store for a few minutes. When they’re out shopping or running errands they should always take their children with them.

On a 35 C day, heat levels in a car can soar to 50 C within 20 minutes. Heatstroke occurs at 40.5 C. According to medical experts, at 42 C the cells in the heart and brain begin dying, and organ failure begins to occur.

According to a study from San Francisco State University, since 1998 on average 38 children die in hot cars each year from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside motor vehicles in the U.S.. So far this year 11 deaths have been documented.

While there are no equivalent statistics in Canada, the Canada Safety Council estimates between four to six children across the country die after being left alone in vehicles every year.

U.S.-based KidsAndCars.org, which has a sister organization in Canada, offers the following “Look Before You Lock” BE SAFE tips from KidsAndCars.org:

• Back seat — Put something in the back seat so you have to open the back door when leaving the vehicle: cell phone, employee badge, handbag, etc.

• Every child should be correctly restrained in the back seat.

• Stuffed animal — Move it from the car seat to the front seat to remind you when your baby is in the back seat.

• Ask your babysitter or childcare provider to call you within 10 minutes if your child hasn’t arrived on time.

• Focus on driving — Avoid cell phone calls and texting while driving.

• Every time you park your vehicle, open the back door to make sure no one has been left behind.

"The vast majority of these cases we see, it's not a failure of love, it's a failure of memory," said John McKiggan, who founded KidsAndCars.org Canada in 2011, in an interview with the CBC following the funeral of the Milton toddler last year.

"It's not because the parent, caregiver, or grandparent doesn't care about the child. It's because something happened that made them forget and people don't understand how easy it is for that to happen.”