It's something every parent of a young child worries about, or should worry about, especially on these hot summer days — in the rush of everyday life some people forget their babies and toddlers in their car seats in the back of their cars, sometimes with deadly results.
But as cases have happened this summer, particularly a troubling case in Georgia where the father is alleged to have deliberately left his 22-month-old son to die in a hot car on June 18, it may be time to stop feeling sorry for these parents, who've often gotten off with barely a slap on the wrist from authorities.
The father in Georgia is alleged to have searched the Internet for information about child deaths in hot cars, which investigators believe may show he planned to kill the child and collect insurance money. Investigators are looking into whether his wife conspired with him.
But even if that particular father didn't do what he's now accused of, someone could be tempted to kill their child in this horrible way because parents in past cases have gotten off with little punishment.
In another recent case, on July 3, a 2-year-old girl was rescued from a car in a parking lot on Long Island, N.Y., after an alert passer-by heard the girl crying and summoned law officers. The officer who broke open a car window to rescue her estimated it was 120 degrees inside the car, while outside the temperature was 80.
Even when temperatures are in the 60s, the temperature in a closed car can rise to above, 110 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If these cases are accidents, they may be preventable.
An 11-year-old Nashville boy, entering a contest to make things with rubber bands, came up with the idea to create a rubber band chain that parents can hook from the backseat to the driver's side door handle so they can't get out of the car without remembering the child.)
He gives directions on how anyone can make his E-Z Baby Saver on his website at ezbabysaver.com. There he says a bungee cord could work as well to block the driver until he or she focuses on the backseat.
A variety of commercial products also exist to alert caregivers that a baby is being left in a car, but use of any of these things requires a responsible adult.
Day-care establishments expecting children to be dropped off also could play a role in preventing such deaths if they call parents to ask why the child hasn't arrived.
In heat stroke cases, the heat attacks the brain, heart, kidneys and muscles, eventually leading to death, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Children and the elderly are at increased risk of heat stroke in hot conditions.
On average, 38 children die in hot cars a year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency looked at such deaths since 1998 and said 51 percent happened when the caregiver forgot the child, 30 percent when children played in an unattended vehicle, and 17 percent of the cases were due to an adult intentionally leaving the child in the car.
No one should die that way, but the loss of innocent children, unable to communicate or get out of harm's way on their own, is particularly tragic.
Parents and other caregivers need to do their part to prevent these awful deaths, and the legal system needs to do more to make sure any such case is thoroughly investigated and not treated as a sad and simple accident, and that there is punishment for causing a death.