CARSTAR Gapsch Collision Center

Parents Need to Know About KidsAndCars.org

Literally every 12-14 hours, a child will be left unattended in or around a vehicle with dire consequences in the Unites States. Hypothermia, power window-related injuries, and low-speed injuries such as rollover accidents are the types of tragedies that occur when children are left alone in or around cars. This worsening public health issue is causing death and injury because people still believe that is safe to leave kids alone in vehicles.

Here at CARSTAR Gapsch Collision Center, we also hear these terrible stories about children dying in cars on the local news here in and we're always shocked and dismayed by them. So, here we are happy to introduce parents to a website called KidsAndCars.org that works hard to advise parents and children alike about potential dangers on the road and in vehicles, among other things.

Several highlights about KidsAndCars.org’s major accomplishments:

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  KidsAndCars.org brought some major national attention to non-traffic incidents involving cars which historically were not recognized by government agencies. These are car-related accidents that happen on private property and often in people's garages or yards. The people at KidsAndCars.org are now recognized as the country's leading experts about these types of accidents that injure and kill children.
• Every car sold or leased in the United States with a trunk now has an internal trunk release that will glow in the dark. Due to the efforts of KidsAndCars.org, this development began with vehicles made in 2002 when emergency trunk releases were first installed. Since then, the organization is not aware of any deaths in the trunk of a car with this safety attribute.
• Potentially dangerous rocker and toggle power window switches can no longer be installed on vehicles and are being replaced by the much safer ‘pull up to close/push down to open’ switches as of October of 2010.
• An expert panel called “Unattended Kids + Cars Expert Panel” in California was sponsored by KidsAndCars.org to analyze the undocumented public safety issue of children being left unattended in or around vehicles and devised a set of safety recommendations that are currently being implemented throughout the country.
• KidsAndCars.org played an integral part in the passage of laws in California, Illinois, Nevada Tennessee, Oklahoma and Hawaii, thereby making it illegal to leave children alone in cars in each state.

So, if you're a parent (or even a grandparent) living here in St Louis, MO or anywhere else in the USA, check out KidsAndCars.org and learn how to be safer with your children (or grandchildren) when in or around a car.

Sources: KidsAndCars.org