Campaign highlights dangers of leaving children alone in cars

Caitlin Hudgins

Wednesday, June 2, 2004 | 8:26 a.m.

As the daily high temperatures climb into triple digits, Las Vegas city officials are planning to launch a campaign Thursday to increase public awareness about the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles.

Called "Heat Kills," the program is the third campaign launched in the last several weeks aimed at getting Las Vegas Valley residents to stop leaving children alone in cars.

This latest program will place messages on all fire department vehicles and on 50 CAT buses. Fire department personnel will also distribute stickers to businesses to place on their front doors to further publicize the cause.

The messages remind people that leaving children alone in cars can be deadly and encourage people to notify police if they see kids left unattended in vehicles.

On May 20, a father left his two children in his car while he shopped for a TV in Henderson. A security guard saw the children and called police. Although the kids were not physically harmed, the father was arrested on child abuse and neglect charges.

Clark County firefighters said they had to respond to about 600 calls about children locked in vehicles last year.

The number of cases is one of the reasons state Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, is working on legislation for 2005 that would require anyone who leaves a child younger than 8 alone in a car to pay a fine or take a class on the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles.

Nevada is one of seven states in which legislators are talking about making it a crime to leave children alone in cars, according to ABC News. Eleven states currently have specific laws to punish parents who leave their kids unattended in vehicles.

Tests have shown that car temperatures can reach 134 degrees in five minutes during summer months, according to the Kids in Cars Web site. But that apparently has not changed many parents' beliefs about the dangers of heat. One in five young parents believes it is acceptable to leave kids alone in vehicles, according to a survey conducted by Safe Kids and General Motors.

Children are at a greater risk than adults for cramps, exhaustion or strokes caused by heat, according to Yahoo News. Kids in Cars notes that 16 children have died in Nevada since 1990 from being left unattended in vehicles. Many of those cases were in Southern Nevada, including two last year.

For more information about the "Heat Kills" campaign go to www.lasvegasfire.org and click on the "Heat Kills" button or call 229-0145.