Prevent a Tragedy

Folks are so busy, so distracted that they are forgetting to take their kids out of their cars resulting in tragedies of the death of their own children. Steps could be taking place that are not taking place to prevent these tragedies. Many kids are dying in their cars because their parent forgets to drop them off on their way to work. Why isn't there an alert required of all daycare centers to notify the parents if a child does not show up for that day at daycare? A simple reminder asking where is that child could be saving lives. People are on their phones all the time. That reminder could bring their thought back to their kids.

At least 29 children died this year because they were forgotten in cars according to the non-profit Kids In Cars and that doesn't account for all the kids who died in hot cars this year due to folks leaving them there in sweltering heat even just for an hour or so. New York is at least trying to pass an alert law but outside NYC there is NO REQUIREMENT for workers to check in on their babies they are babysitting. Why?

In NYC a health regulation does require that"if a child unexpectedly fails to show up on time, the program must notify the parent within one hour, either by phone, text, email or other means of immediate communication and keep a record of the notification." I would require a step further that a response from the parent as to that child's whereabouts is required as well. Communication is the key to saving a child's life!

Meanwhile in New York the rule is loosely enforced and many day care centers aren't even aware of the rule. There were only 4 violations reported in the last 2 years. A law MUST be passed requiring centers to comply with these notifications or risk losing their license and maybe then they will pay attention more. 

No one is suggesting that child care centers are responsibles for child deaths in cars but they can have a larger role in preventing these tragedies. Now there are apps for everything . There are even apps to alert parents every time a child needs to eat; to alert when a diaper needs to be changed or even when they are sleeping. If apps are the only way to get adults attentions these days then use them to save lives too. Adding an alert app is easy but convincing a parent they need it is hard. Prevent a tragedy. There is an app for that!
Car manufacturers can be making seat sensors so that you can not shut the car off if there is extra weight on the rear seats indicating that you are  leaving with bodies left back there. We can save the innocent lives if we put our minds to THAT for a change and not to everything else we take on in our lives.