Preventing Child Deaths in Cars - National Safe Kids Campaign and GM Warn Parents Against Leaving Children in Cars

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VIDEO SCRIPT:

SOT: Mark Warschauer, Father whose son died in car “Well I hadn't slept well the night before and I was up late working on a project and got up one or two times during the night to check on Mikey. Instead of taking a right turn as I was supposed to do to go to the daycare center, I drove and took a left turn to go to my office, locked my door, went upstairs and was completely oblivious to the fact that Mikey was in the car. There was a big commotion in the parking lot and I saw that the car's window was broken and I saw a baby on the ground and all of a sudden, I put everything together and just collapsed in agony.”

THIS IS TRULY A TRAGIC STORY, YET YOU MAY BE SAYING TO YOURSELF, 'HOW COULD ANYONE JUST FORGET THEY HAD A BABY IN THE CAR?' WELL LAST YEAR, THIS TRAGEDY PLAYED OUT 36 TIMES IN THE UNITED STATES. AND ACCORDING TO MEDIA REPORTS COMPILED BY GENERAL MOTORS, SINCE 1996, 265 CHILDREN HAVE BEEN LOST TO HEATSTROKE, EITHER BECAUSE A CHILD CLIMBED INTO A CAR AND COULDN'T GET OUT, OR BECAUSE PARENTS OR GUARDIANS LEFT THEM UNATTENDED OR FORGOT THAT THEY WERE THERE.

SOT: Martin Eichelberger, MD, National Safe Kids Campaign “The problem here is that people think its not going to happen to them, that its going to be somebody else that it’s going to happen to. But each one of us everyday think that they can just run inside and do a quick errand, come back and that our child will be alive if we leave them inside a vehicle. As soon as you roll those windows up and close the door or if your child unfortunately slips into the trunk of your car and you don't know it because these toddlers can get into every aspect of your house or your car. But that simple act of oversight is going to have an impact on you and your family for the rest of your life.”

THE NATIONAL SAFE KIDS CAMPAIGN AND GENERAL MOTORS HAVE DEVELOPED THIS DEMONSTRATION TO DRIVE HOME TO PARENTS HOW EVEN ON A MILD DAY A VEHICLE IS NO PLACE TO LEAVE A CHILD.

SOT: Alan Adler, General Motors “This display shows just how quickly a car can heat up on a hot day. And here, it's not a hot day and you've got almost 20 degrees of difference. If we were in a warmer place, you might see the difference outside - it might be in the 80's and you could see 110 or 120 inside the car. And this all happens in a matter of minutes.”

MARK WARSCHAUER HOPES THAT HIS OPENNESS ABOUT HIS TRAGEDY WILL REMIND OTHER PARENTS HOW EASILY A CLOSED VEHICLE CAN OVERHEAT, AND HOW PREVENTABLE THESE DEATHS ARE. HE URGES PARENTS TO CREATE A VISUAL REMINDER - EITHER PUT A DIAPER BAG ON THE FRONT SEAT OR PUT THEIR BRIEFCASE IN THE BACK WITH THE INFANT.

THE NEVER LEAVE YOUR CHILD ALONE VEHICLE TEMPERATURE DISPLAY TRAVELS THE COUNTRY WITH GM'S AUTO SHOW IN MOTION. I'M CHRIS HANSEN.