Don't turn your car into a coffin!
Kidsafe Victoria has issued an urgent warning to parents over
the deadly dangers of leaving children in cars on hot days as
Victoria's temperatures are expected to soar in the next two days
and over summer.
Aleks Natora, State Manager Kidsafe
Victoria, said that in the past children have died from being left
in cars and over summer children's lives can be endangered within a
couple of minutes during a hot day.
"Even on what might seem a cool day it is still dangerous to
leave a child in a car on their own given the number of items and
substances in a normal car.
"Following a death of a child and a campaign by Kidsafe four
years ago legislation has now made leaving a child unattended in a
car a criminal offence."
Tests conducted by Ambulance Victoria on a 29 degree day with
the car's air conditioning having cooled the interior to a
comfortable 20 degrees showed it took just 10 minutes for the
temperature to more than double to 44 degrees and in a further 10
minutes it had tripled to a deadly 60.2 degrees. Leaving the window
down a few centimetres does little.
The warning is aimed at reinforcing the original Kidsafe program
that encouraged warning stickers on entry signs of all supermarket
and public car parks to prevent children from being left in cars
during hot days.
"Parents leaving children in hot cars run the risk of turning
their cars into a coffin and it is vital that warning signs on the
entry to car parks should be heeded by parents.
"Some parents are playing Russian roulette with their children's
lives by leaving them unattended in a car whilst they go shopping.
"The temperature inside a parked car during the Australian
summer can be 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the outside temperature,"
Ms Natora said.
Media Enquiries:
Aleks Natora, State Manager Kidsafe
Victoria, Mobile 0419 836 244
Ron Smith Corporate Media
Communications Kidsafe Victoria Mobile: 0417 329 201
