Reviewed by: Cindy Hatcher
3 important tips to keep kids safe from hot cars this summer
Reading time: 4 minutes
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As Birmingham temperatures continue to rise during the summer, the risk of vehicular heatstroke increases significantly. But there are precautions to take to make sure your kiddos stay safe—Children’s of Alabama, the state’s only freestanding pediatric hospital, has a few tips to share.
We met up with Children’s of Alabama’s Health Education and Safety team to discover how quickly the inside of our cars heats up, and what we can all do to better protect children this summer and year-round.
How to protect kids from overheated cars
A few weeks ago, we met Ashley Bridgmon, Manager of the Health Education and Safety Center at Children’s of Alabama, outside the hospital as she set up a thermometer to compare the temperature inside the vehicle to the temperature outside.
The Health Education and Safety Team set up the thermometer at around 10AM, and approximately 20 minutes later, the vehicle had already heated to 100 degrees.
This vehicle display was set up outside of Children’s of Alabama as part of the hospital’s “Look and Lock” campaign, created to raise awareness about pediatric vehicular heatstroke and its dangers.
Children’s of Alabama has led this statewide campaign for the last three years with help from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
“On average, there are 37 deaths each year in the United States due to pediatric vehicular heatstroke. It’s important to raise awareness on this because it is preventable.
Our team spreads safety messaging throughout the state, and we have teams out in the community doing in-person education to get that conversation started about the dangers of hot cars.”
Ashley Bridgmon, Manager of the Health Education and Safety Center, Children’s of Alabama
Ashley was quick to say that yes, we’re humans and yes, things happen. But that’s the reason this campaign exists.
“Think about cases where a parent or caregiver may have forgotten something at home, so they run back inside really quickly to grab it, planning to come right back.
Or they go into a store, get distracted, maybe run into somebody they know, and what they expected to be a quick stop takes much longer than they thought it would.”
Ashley Bridgmon, Manager of the Health Education and Safety Center, Children’s of Alabama
While this can happen to any of us, there are steps you can take to make sure everyone stays safe and out of hot cars.
Look and Lock: Create reminders for yourself!
Making simple reminders when getting out of your vehicle this summer could be life-saving. Here’s what Ashley advised:
- Keep personal items in the backseat: Place your purse or wallet in the back.. That way, every time you get to your destination, you’ll have to check the backseat.
- Create a visual reminder for yourself: If your child has a bag or a stuffed animal, put it up front with you. That can serve as a visual reminder to check the backseat.
- Store your keys up high: When you get home, lock your car + store your keys high enough out of reach to help prevent any cases of children gaining access to your car on their own.
Find more tips and see how Children’s of Alabama helps protect local kids and their families.
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