MINT HILL, NC – Leaving children in the car alone is not safe, each year about 40 children die in the United States from being left in a car alone. There are times we are busy, out running errands, or your child falls asleep in the car, while you may think that instead of getting them out or waking them you could just crack the windows and let them stay in the car. The car is not a place to leave a child. Their exposure to heat stroke or leaving them in the car to play as you finish your errands can lead to very serious consequences.

One of the biggest dangers of leaving your child in the car is heatstroke. Heatstroke causes damage to the child’s brain along with other bodily organs which can lead to death. When a child is left in the car it does not take long for the child’s body temperature to rise very quickly. The temperature in a car can rise 20 degrees in as little as 10 minutes and over 40 degrees in as little as an hour. It doesn’t even have to feel hot outside for these temperatures to quickly increase. A child’s body is not able to handle heat like an adult’s. They heat up three to five times faster because they have alot of body surface area that has not developed to be able to cool itself down.

The risk of leaving a child alone in a car for a short time or if even forgotten causes serious harm and can lead to death. There is never a reason that chance should be taken. Never leave a child in the car alone, for even a minute. An accident can happen faster than you think.