Babies Need Not Die in Hot Cars

Another two-year-old child died in a hot van. Another family drowned after their car went into a lake. These needless deaths can be prevented.
Frequently we read of a forgotten toddler imprisoned in a hot car with the windows closed, killed slowly but surely. These babies need not die. An easy way of prevention exists if we will just put it to use.
Creativity has been described as a new combination of things already known. Just a little creativity, combining existing electronic elements to make a “Baby Rescue” device can save hundreds of lives in the United States every year.
The usual scenario: A day care worker can’t count, or forgets to count, leaves a toddler asleep on a back seat, and leaves the van in the sun. The child wakes and starts crying. No one hears. The child may try to escape, but no one sees. Modern devices can detect high temperatures and the high pitched cry of a child. Another device can roll down windows. Another can sound an alarm.
These devices could be built and installed in cars and vans at little cost. The Baby Rescue device wouldn’t be 100 per cent effective, because some dying children won’t cry out. But the majority who do cry out would be saved.

People don’t drive into a lake or river deliberately, but such accidents happen. I recall a news article several years ago of a man driving with his wife and children in a rainstorm. He lost his way and drove down a boat ramp and into a swollen river. The family drowned. Evidence showed they tried to get out of the car but couldn’t.
My brother, Gordon Hewitt, parked his car in the driveway of a hurricane-proof house when Hurricane Ike hit Grand Cayman Island. The storm surge swept his BMW car off the driveway, down the street, and into deep water. When he found the car, all the windows had been rolled down. I assume BMW has a safety device that causes the windows to roll down when the car is submerged. Such a device could have saved the family that went into the river, and many others as well.
If BMW can do it, why can’t the other automobile manufacturers?
Women who leave babies in hot cars while they visit bars are not likely to buy a Baby Rescue device. Automobile manufacturers close their eyes and refuse to look at safety devices that will add cost to their products. Seat belts and air bags came into use with pain that hurt car companies like childbirth. So for the children’s sake, there should be laws. Devices to rescue babies from hot cars and families from submerged cars should be installed in each new car, and all existing day care center vans and buses.