Hot-Car Deaths: How Many Kids Have Died In Maryland?

MARYLAND – With temperatures expected to climb near 90 degrees on Thursday, officials are reminding people to keep their pets and children out of hot cars. It can prove fatal and may be against the law.

Maryland law states that no child under 8 years old shall be left alone unattended in a vehicle.

An officer rescued a baby from a hot car in Prince George's County Wednesday after the child's father, who was found face-down in the grass nearby, was taken to the hospital

Police said the man who left his child unattended during Wednesday's record-breaking heat faces reckless endangerment charges.

Hot cars are especially dangerous for children – particularly babies, who dehydrate more quickly than adults and can’t regulate their body temperature. Their bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults' do, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

On average, 37 kids a year die of vehicular heat stroke, according to national statistics. Excluding crashes, that’s the leading cause of death in vehicles for children 14 years and younger.

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A Baltimore man who left his daughter in the car while he went out drinking on Fathers Day 2015 was sentenced last year to eight months in jail for manslaughter, according to court records.

His daughter died after being in the car for 16 hours, officials said.

The day that the 2-year-old died it was 89 degrees, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Cars can heat up quickly even when the temperature outside is mild.

So far in 2018, kids have died in Charleston, South Carolina, and Miami, Florida. In both cases, they had been forgotten by their parents.

RELATED: Baltimore Dad Charged; Child Dies After 16 Hours In Hot Car

There have been 14 heatstroke fatalities between 1990 and 2017 in Maryland, according to Kidsandcars.org, which keeps a database of these tragedies.

The interior of cars can become deadly in as little as 10 minutes, Jan Null, an adjunct professor and research meteorologist at San Jose State University, told Patch.

It’s never OK to leave a child unattended in a car, he said.

Ruckersville, Virginia, mom Raelyn Balfour learned that the hard way. She forgot to drop off her 9-month-old son, Bryce, at his babysitter’s on March 30, 2007, a day the high temperature was in the mid-60s.

Balfour had heard about hot car deaths, but believed they had irresponsible parents until the tragedy involving her own son. The day Bryce died, she felt tired, overwhelmed and distracted and thought she had dropped him off.

“The fact is that heatstroke tragedies happen to loving, caring, attentive parents,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. “The vast majority of these tragedies happen when a child is mistakenly left behind in a vehicle or when an unattended child gains access to a vehicle.”

In many cases, a parent completely loses awareness that the child is in the car.

The problem is particularly acute among parents experiencing sleep deprivation or stress, David Diamond, professor of psychology, molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida, told ABC.

“You sort of go in autopilot mode,” Diamond said, explaining how a routine drive from home to work, instead of home to the daycare center, is automatic.

Hot-Weather Car Safety Tips

• Look before you lock: Check in the back seats of your vehicle before you lock it and walk away.
• Do routine checks: If someone else is driving your child, or your daily routine has been altered, make a call to ensure the child arrived safely at the destination.
• Keep your keys out of children’s reach: Nearly three in 10 heatstroke deaths happen when an unattended child gets access to a vehicle, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
• Leave yourself a gentle reminder: Keeping a stuffed toy or other memento in your child’s car seat, then move it to the front seat as a visual reminder when the baby is in the back seat. Or, place your phone, briefcase or purse in the back seat when traveling with your child.

From 1990-2017, only two states — Alaska and Vermont — reported no deaths due to vehicular heat stroke, according to KidsAndCars.org.

Beth Dalbey of Patch’s national staff contributed to this report.

Photos via Shutterstock.