Photo: WhichCar
Italy is moving to prevent child deaths from hypertermia, so its Minister of Transport is considering a change in legislation that would force parents to install sensors on their child seats.
Minister of Transport Danilo Toninelli says that tragic deaths in hot cars can be prevented if the parents install a sensor on the child seat, as it would remind them to check the backseat for the baby. This would rule out situations where a distracted or exhausted parent gets out of the car to run errands and forgets the child strapped into the child seat, in the hot car.
In the case of parents who intentionally leave their children behind in the car in hot weather, a more strict legislation would dole out severe punishments, to the point where such a gesture would be discouraged. According to statistics, 16 children died of hypertermia after being left in hot cars over the space of just 2 years, in Italy alone.
Technology can significantly decrease that number, Toninelli says in a blog post cited by the Daily Mail.
“A small change to Article 172 of the Highway Code can be fundamental to save the lives of our children, to prevent a tragedy from a trivial distraction that marks forever a father, a mother, a family,” he writes. “Let's talk about the cases of children forgotten by their parents [left in their] car.”
Such situations could be avoided by “just using the existing technologies: for example, a sensor integrated into the seat and connected to the vehicle key or smartphone,” Toninelli argues.
He says the new law will be brought before the Council of Ministers, while the ministry of transport will launch a new campaign to raise awareness on the issue.
“I'm a father who, like many, lives through complicated and stressful times that can cause distraction,” he writes. “No one can say that the life of a child is not worth €100.”
In the case of parents who intentionally leave their children behind in the car in hot weather, a more strict legislation would dole out severe punishments, to the point where such a gesture would be discouraged. According to statistics, 16 children died of hypertermia after being left in hot cars over the space of just 2 years, in Italy alone.
Technology can significantly decrease that number, Toninelli says in a blog post cited by the Daily Mail.
“A small change to Article 172 of the Highway Code can be fundamental to save the lives of our children, to prevent a tragedy from a trivial distraction that marks forever a father, a mother, a family,” he writes. “Let's talk about the cases of children forgotten by their parents [left in their] car.”
Such situations could be avoided by “just using the existing technologies: for example, a sensor integrated into the seat and connected to the vehicle key or smartphone,” Toninelli argues.
He says the new law will be brought before the Council of Ministers, while the ministry of transport will launch a new campaign to raise awareness on the issue.
“I'm a father who, like many, lives through complicated and stressful times that can cause distraction,” he writes. “No one can say that the life of a child is not worth €100.”
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