LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Twenty small children across the United States have died this year after being left in a hot car, including a 5-month-old in Hastings last week.
That’s 20 families and 20 communities, grappling with a devastating event that the organization, Kids and Car Safety, claims to be completely preventable through an already passed law— that just needs to be regulated.
Janette Fennell, the President of the organization, said that for the past four years, the ‘Hot Cars Act’ has been sitting in governmental limbo.
It was passed as part of a provision in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, and should have been regulated by 2023.
Today, they’re pressing the issue and asking lawmakers to do the right thing.
“It’s not a matter of if, and it’s not a matter of when,” Fennell said, “I guess the only question is how many children will perish in hot cars because this technology is missing.”
The hot car provision that was passed at the federal level would require new vehicles to have technology installed that could detect unattended occupants left in the car.
“There is radar technology that is so sensitive that it can check the breathing of the baby, the chest rising and falling, and that would’ve saved the baby’s life,” she added.
The provision states the technology would need to provide both visual and auditory alerts to the driver. Hopefully, it will prevent hundreds of hot car-related deaths.
“I don’t know how these things happen,” said Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood. “It’s tragic when they do. If there’s a system in the vehicle that could help prevent this, I’m certainly supportive of the idea... I don’t know what it adds to the cost.”
Fennell said the type of technology called for in the act would only cost $20 per car.
“We won’t notice that when we purchase a car,” Fennell said, “but at this point we’ve lost over 1,100 babies since 1990.”
In Nebraska alone, six children have died in hot cars this year. And just last month, a 5-month-old baby boy in Hastings was found dead in a hot car.
His father, 36-year-old Jeremy Hansen, was charged with negligent child abuse.
“Parents never recover from something like this; it affects the family, it affects the community, and it affects everyone in a very difficult and deep way,” Fennell said.
When asked about supporting pushing the act, Rep. Flood said he believes it’s an education issue.
“It’s so tragic when you hear about this in Hastings, when you hear about this anywhere in America. It’s so preventable, too.”
The Jobs and Infrastructure Act would need final regulations written by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for it to be enforced.
But nearly two years have passed since the deadline for those rules.
Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon sent us this statement:
“I’m very concerned that this deadline has been missed. Just two days ago, a child in Alabama lost his life when he was left in a sweltering car for over five hours. That’s one too many.”
Today, new cars are all equipped with alerts, from warnings about open car doors and low oil to alerts letting the driver know they’ve left their headlights on.
“So, it just really begs the question who decided it’s more important not to have a dead car battery than to have the technology so a baby doesn’t die in the car,” Fennell ended.
We reached out to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the act and where it stands in the process. We’ll have an update once we hear back.
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