Three Kids Died In Hot Cars In Just The Last Week

It’s getting hot again, which is great for hanging out on the beach, but sadly, warmer weather also comes with a heartbreaking downside. Every now and then, a parent leaves or forgets their kid in the car and comes back to find that the worst thing imaginable has happened. But that doesn’t just happen on extremely hot days, as three families sadly found out over the last week.

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NBC reports that since last weekend, three children have died in hot cars in separate incidents in Washington state, Florida and Texas. And in all cases, the weather was in the 70s and 80s, so while it was warm, it wasn’t noticeably hot. Because a car acts as a greenhouse, though, it’s possible for the interior temperature of a car to cross 100 degrees even when outside temperatures are in the low 70s.

The recent fatalities bring the total number of hot car deaths this year to six, which is reportedly twice the number we saw this time last year. And it easily could have been higher. In Houston, a four-year-old boy was found with a two-year-old girl in an unlocked parked car with the temperatures in the high 80s. Both were rushed to the hospital, and doctors managed to save the girl but not the boy.

If there’s anything positive that can come out of this string of tragic incidents, hopefully, it’s that more people learn or are reminded that you shouldn’t leave children in parked cars even if it’s not particularly hot. And the same goes for pets. It may be perfectly pleasant outside, but the interior temperature of a car can still get dangerously high. Even if it’s cool enough not to be dangerous, you still shouldn’t leave children and pets in a parked car for extended periods of time, either. You really do never know what could happen.