Two Ore. moms arrested for toddlers in hot cars

At least twice this month, Oregon parents have been arrested for leaving toddlers in vehicles unattended.

The start of the school year means the pace of some households gets a little more hectic — and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Look Before You Lock” campaign warns parents and child-care providers not to accidentally leave kids in hot cars, even for a few minutes.

Kate Carr, president of the group Safe Kids Worldwide, says August isn’t the only time to be alert: Tragedies happen year-round.

“It is not just a summertime occurrence,” she said. “Deaths from hyperthermia or heat stroke have occurred in 11 months of the year, in 46 of the 50 states.”

Emergency room physician Denise Dowd says it doesn’t have to be more than 70 or 80 degrees outside to put children in danger inside a vehicle.

“It always heats up way above that inside of a locked car,” Dowd said. “Because even on a day when it’s only 80 degrees or 70 degrees, you can quickly get up above 100 degrees. Kids can get hyperthermia there, for sure.”

Dowd says it only takes a few minutes to put small children in extreme danger – partly because their body temperatures change significantly faster than adults’.

“Unfortunately, kids that get hyperthermia, especially babies, get sick pretty darned quickly. Once they get above 106 or 107, they can’t survive that.”

NHTSA says in half the cases, parents simply forget their children. But in a third of the cases children get inside unlocked cars by themselves and can’t get out.

If you see a child alone inside someone else’s vehicle, Carr says to call 911.

In both Oregon cases, it was alert passers-by who found sleeping children in vehicles in Gresham and Eugene. Their mothers were charged with child neglect and reckless endangerment.

More information is available at www.safekids.org.

Chris Thomas of Oregon News Service provided this report