I see it’s time to repost this:
Fatal distraction, a Pulitzer Prize winning article
Tearjerker article about how parents who’ve been through this felt, why it happens, and what car manufacturers could do to prevent it.
FUCK ME
Several people – including Mary Parks of Blacksburg – have driven from their workplace to the day-care center to pick up the child they’d thought they’d dropped off, never noticing the corpse in the back seat.
I didn’t want to read the article because I expected horrible things written in there. Like this.
Thanks
I couldn’t finish reading, I am already a mess of tears 10 paragraphs in. I cannot imagine the pain and guilt…
Same.
It still makes me tear up every time I skim it, yeah.
The headline:
Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?
YES! It is and it should be. It’s neglect! There’s no reason to keep reading when the headline asks a bullshit question.
I also wouldn’t read an article titled, Should murder be wrong?
An award winning journalist, the only one to have will two Pulitzers for features, this being one of them: “here’s a horrifying thing that can happen to anyone.”
Some random dipshit: “what an idiot.”
A man gets drunk and beats the shit out of his wife.
An award winning journalist: “here’s a horrifying thing that can happen to anyone.”
What kind of dumb fuck logic do you have in your brain?
Are you this toxic and miserable in real life or are you just chronically online?
You’re defending murders and wife beaters and I have a miserable life? Ok lol.
Buddy if you breath too hard that straw man is gonna fall over.
The jail is waiting for you.
Exhausted humans incredibly likely to forget things
Is closer to the actual facts being discussed in the article, which is a very basic and simple thing to understand and fits the headline well
Yeah, and drunk people are incredibly likely to do dumb shit.
Don’t do dumb shit and stop killing everyone.
Oh if only we were perfect little robots, amirite?
If we peel back your anonymity and examine your life from birth to death, yes, I’m sure you never had close calls and never did dumb shit, is that right?
I haven’t beaten or murdered anyone, that’s for sure.
“That article can’t change my mind because I can’t read!”
I know I’m being pedantic but murder requires intent, it seems that the majority of these cases are manslaughter, still illegal though and just as sad.
There’s a reason the article won a Pulitzer. Maybe you could give it a try
People, if there’s a child in the back seat, and it’s hot out… call the cops.
If the child isn’t moving… pound on the window to try and rouse them. If you can’t…. Go to the opposite front window and break it.
(You’ll have to be creative. It’s not easy to break automotive glass Something hard and concentrated. Or a big ass rock.)
Also, probably preaching to the choir…. But….
DONT LEAVE YOUR KID IN THE FUCKING CAR.
Skip calling the cops, if it’s hot break the window THEN call the cops, same for pets. In many places this is now the fully legal thing to do. If you wait even a little bit that can be the difference, you never know how close to death they are even if moving
You can buy keychain tools for breaking windows easily, the trick is something hard and POINTY, really concentrated the force applied
The reason to call the cops right off is so they get there faster.
If the kid is going to die in the seconds it takes to make get them rolling, they’re probably going to die outside the car, too. On the other hand, the sooner they get there, the faster they get advanced care.
Additionally, it provides a bit of legal protection, having dispatch on the phone.
Also, not even animal control will break into a car- they let the cops do that. The last time I dealt with it the cops waited for them to make the call that it was necessary.
There was a puppy in the back of an suv. The window was cracked but the puppy was in a dog crate covered in blankets. The car interior was just under the threshold at like 90 or something, but the crate when they did open it was at like 105. It was a little cocker spaniel that was the sweetest little cuddle-bug.
The assholes left the dog in the back in 90-degree weather to go to a baseball game. The worst part is that they could go pick up the dog after paying a fine. That dog deserved better humans.
Didn’t the Beatles make a song about how it’s perfectly safe to leave a living thing in a hot car?
I’m missing the joke.
I thought that one was about letting the baby drive the car. Did they mention the ambient air temperature or any locally posted heat warnings in that one? Can’t remember all the lyrics.
Parenting pro tip: Once the car seat is installed, check it every time you leave the car. Even before the baby is born, even if you are currently holding the baby.
Every time I leave a bathroom I go right back in to make sure I flushed. I know I did, but I still do. Same idea, albeit lower stakes.
Why’s it always gotta be a 2yo. :/
I’ll be sure to hug my daughter extra tomorrow.
I wonder if that’s because it’s one of the most mentally draining ages.
Often the parents forget about them rather than intentionally leave them with no windows open.
I wonder if it’s because 2-year-olds are usually pretty noisy, so when they’ve fallen asleep, it’s easier to forget that they’re even back there.
Probably old enough the parent thinks they’ll be fine on their own for a bit, but young enough to be a hassle to bring along on a “short” errand.
We created laws to require seat belts, maybe it’s time we create laws that require the manufacturers to install tech to detect kids and pets left in hot vehicles and alert the authorities or at the very least sound an alarm.
Seatbelts are simple. Aside from the big brother distopian nightmare this proposal enables, I’m not convinced such a thing it technically possible.
Just turn on the fan if there’s someone inside and it gets above 40C
I can see the headlines about the first time it’s rolled out… all the headlines are short people being mad that they were flagged as kids
Or the police officers who rushed on scene to find a bag of groceries in the back seat…after smashing a window…
‘Where… dog?’
A confused police officer shredds a bag of veggies with a shotgun, claims self-defense.
I’ve had rental cars chirp back at me when I tried to lock them because my backpack was in the back seat.
I don’t have kids. At least give me a fuse to pull.
Perhaps it could be done with a pressure plate and thermometer?
I think the pressure sensor thing works fine. I just put my backpack on the floorboard or in the trunk and the problem was gone.
As far as forcing it, lol, I feel like we have better things to fuss with, but meh.
This is already in a bunch of cars. Just doesn’t call police.
PIR occupancy sensor + thermometer + window open sensor + seat occupancy sensor/scale + door lock/child lock sensor + decibel limit on microphone already in car
Technically possible, yes. Most of the equipment is already there. It’s just a matter of tuning everything to work together to solve the specific problem. The bigger problem in my eyes is most people would treat this as a perfect solution instead of a last resort like what happened with Tesla’s FSD.
Or, “the bad guys will just heat my car to open my windows and steal my kid,” probably
I’ve seen doors with motion sensor locks on the inside get defeated by vapes and inflatables. Make no mistake, this will get weaponized if implemented. It’ll be the Kia boyz all over again.
That’s so much thermal mass. Very little other than the sun will have the energy output to do this. Certainly not in the time it would need to take to steal a car.
It’s more a question of money than feasibility. I’m pretty sure a couple manufacturers already have basic capabilities similar to this
Aside from the big brother distopian nightmare this proposal enables
A car knowing when I left a child in the backseat? Basically the same as my thoughts being censored by Big Brother.
It’s my right and my freedom to let people I am responsible for die in a heatwave!
Some cars have that already. I rented a Hyundai Elantra recently when my car was being serviced. It came with Rear Occupant Alert. Ultrasonic sensors can detect if there’s movement in the backseat when a driver exits the vehicle.
Almost all modern cars (made in the last few years) have some kind of warning when you turn the car off and something is weighing down the backseat. My car has it.
Though it’s possible to turn it off, I think it should be required to not be toggle-able.
As someone who has no kids and doesn’t transport kids, no thanks. I don’t need it going off because I have random stuff in the back.
Gee, I didn’t realize two little dings like every third time you turn off your car (if there’s something on the seat) was so damn annoying. In fact, I hardly notice it even when I’m hauling stuff, which is about half the time I’m in my car.
It’s not like it’s the seatbelt warning that constantly goes off until you finally put on your seatbelt.
I just don’t like meaningless sounds because if you get used to ignoring them, they aren’t useful. You’ll just ignore it when it actually matters.
Ever read stories where people get backed over by forklifts and such with the obnoxious backup sounds? It’s the same thing. They’re used to hearing and ignoring the sound cause it’s not around them. So when it actually matters it’s literally in one ear and out the other.
wasn’t there something about a car theft with the child in the car and the company wouldn’t give the police the gps access because the owner wasn’t subscribed? that would be all that happens for this because US and Canada suck at regulating things.
They tried. Lobbyists got Congress to shoot it down.
It’s not difficult. Functioning designs already exist. Hell most if not all cars today have weight sensors to determine airbag deployment.
If it saves one kid, then I’m all for it.
By the way: this famous article is a must-read for this topic
Yeet-the-baby-tron™
This brand new tech saves lives!!
Upon detecting a small humanoid within the car after it has been locked the system automatically opens the sunroof & violently yeets the human at least 100m in a random direction to maximised it’s chances of getting some shade.I mean what about a big red panic button, if pressed starts sounding alarms while also opening the windows. Only works in immobile cars and turns off when long pressed. Done.
Babies cannot press panic buttons…
That’s when you have to teach the baby to do it when needed
I was imagining more the kind of situation where a kid manages to get in and can not get out again. For babies all you need to make sure is you are not an idiot.
None of these people were idiots.
Check out this article: Fatal Distraction, it won a Pulitzer Prize. It’s about how the mind works and why this incident keeps happening over and over again.
You can’t fix stupid negligence with tech.
To quote my dog’s vet, not only can you fix stupid, but it’s quite a simple procedure.
I’m not sure that performing that operation on humans is considered acceptable.
Not by vets… and certainly not without consent.
But men get it done all the time. For us it’s called a “vasectomy”.
You can’t fix human arrogance.
Please no. Car manufacturers are already terrible with privacy
Then the problem is with privacy laws that allow abuse and poor regulation, not with more capable cars.
The problem is with shitty zoning laws that enforce car-dependency – people wouldn’t be accidentally leaving their kids to die in hot cars if they didn’t need a car to get places to begin with.
Make people stupid, make people fat, they spend more money, can’t argue with that.
World gets obese, world gets dumb, at least we made money, oh no we’re being burned to death by the sun.
It can be done in a way that does not affect privacy. If you lock your car while there’s still a person detected on the back seat, it will sound an alarm.
Yup we should let preventable deaths happen just so you can feel an inch more private.
Totally reasonable.
It’s hot enough to cook an egg in there (I think), so please don’t cook your children too. They’re not food.
Really makes you think
I mean, that’s probably the only edible thing you can cook in a hot car.
Nah, one of my coworkers made dashboard cookies and lasagna all the time. It takes a bit longer than in an oven, but she would come in around 1pm just after lunch with a fresh baked tray of cookies regularly, and occasionally told us all not to eat lunch as she had a lasagna or casserole baking in her car. This was in Phoenix, AZ, so that probably affects things a bit.
Now I need a visa just to enjoy your cookies D:
I think I’m in love, creative, resourceful, and delicious?! Can I have her number?
She’s taken, lol. I actually introduced her to her hubby
I was only foolin’ lol, she does sound like a keeper though haha.
Maybe we should require cars, since they are so big, to be reflective painted in such a way that they absorb less heat and passively dissipate heat.
Idiot parents can only do so much.
Maintain air circulation and air conditionning when living presence is detected in the habitacle maintain temperature compatible with life. If needed, crack the windows open automatically.
There you go, that’s one thing…provide a hole at the top of the heat pile…the window cracking option could be one but it is not fail safe. Maybe the top of the roof is open all the time unless the ignition is on. That way if all power fails, there would be air flow through the interior.
Next human detection. That’s nice, but if the roof was solar panels, it could power up a good sized fan. With 100W for example, I was able to power a car radiator fan and that’s like a house extractor fan.
I don’t understand why this is so common in the US.
Lots of really hot climates, lots of cars, 3rd largest population in the world, and a very active news media.
If India or Africa could afford cars you be hearing about it a lot there too.
3rd largest population in the world
I’m curious how you came about this statistic?
I went to check and US is 2nd in total car population, 8th in cars per capita (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_motor_vehicles_per_capita) with China likely exceeding US around 2020 (statista source estimate not linked because they put up a paywall after I viewed it once)
Still way too many dead children tbh
Uncle Sam gave it to us.
I don’t want to shatter your worldview or anything, but the continent of africa has in fact cars. Also a very hot climate.
What they don’t have is american brain rot.
Let’s name a country. Let’s do a 1:1 comparison. I bet we can identify more logical factors than the whimsical notions of, “brain rot.” I bet we can also peel back some not-so-comfortable factoids about said country, too.
I literally live in a country that’s hotter than the US and this rarely if ever happens. I’m not sure it’s just media bias.
So many possible factors. Family support allowing more sleep, less car-centric cities, less tradition of single parent transporting the kid around while on errands, etc etc.
The US is entirely built around car culture. Chances are you don’t get in a car for everywhere you go. In the US getting in a car to go virtually anywhere is unavoidable. This is a tiny percentage we just have so many more car trips per day than most countries.
Edit: fixing counties to countries cause autocorrect.
Car dependency
Ban cars
Feasible in cities and large towns (if they have a reliable public transport infrastructure), not really feasible anywhere else.
