Legislation introduced again to hopefully prevent hot car deaths

Legislation has once again been introduced in Congress to hopefully save babies lives in hot cars.

“The Hot Cars Act of 2019 is a federal bill that would require a detection system,” said Amber Rollins with KidsAndCars.org. “An alert system in vehicles, all new vehicles that could detect the presence of a child and remind the driver that they’re in the backseat.”

The problem of children left to overheat is still a big one across the country.

“Sadly, we have lost 17 children this year nationwide in hot cars,” said Rollins. “One of those happened right here in Kansas.”

Until legislation is passed and if you have an older vehicle, even after that, there are still things you can do.

“Open the back door and check the backseat every single time you leave your vehicle,” said Rollins. “That’s called look before you lock. Put something that you need to start your day in there. For me, that would be my laptop. If I get into my office and I don’t have my laptop, I’m going to have to go back to my car to get it.”

For a lot of people, such an item would be their cell phone. If the cell phone is in the back with baby, you can’t text and drive, either.