Deaf ears to summer danger

By Tanya Spann Roche
Beltsville

A disturbing sight greeted me when I was dropping off my son at day care recently. A little girl was sitting in the sunny back seat of a parked car with all of the windows up. Obviously hot, she was fanning herself with a piece of paper. I rushed over to ask her whether if she could open her door, and she seemed too young to understand. I tried the doors, but they were locked. I called the day-care center for help, and while I was on the phone, a woman strolled out and opened the car. Relieved but still upset, I asked whether if she knew how dangerous (and illegal) it was to lock a child in a car with the windows up on a hot day. She told me to mind my own business and got mad at me for touching her car.

I was stunned. How often do we hear about forgotten children dying in overheated cars? But for a mother to leave her child intentionally without rolling down the windows is just heartbreaking. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, the temperature in a car parked in the sun can quickly reach 130 degrees inside even if it’s only 80 degrees outside.

I hope that little girl will be okay. How sad to think that I may be more concerned for her safety than her mother is.