Consider this scenario: a mother straps in her three-year-old toddler and six-month-old baby as her bulky key chain hangs from her mouth. As she is strapping them into their car seats, a gust of wind knocks the diaper bag off the roof of her SUV, spilling the contents onto the hot pavement. She takes deep breaths, situates her children and takes off for errands around Ramstein.
When she gets to the base post office, she is still out of breath from getting the kids into the car a few minutes ago. She decides to leave the kids strapped into their car seats with the car running and air conditioning on; after all, she is just running in to get the mail.
Wrong decision.
Although she anticipates a quick two-to-three-minute stop in the post office, she has left her children open to the following risks:
• The three-year-old toddler could unbuckle her safety belt and unknowingly shift the car into drive or reverse.
• The six-month-old baby could be sitting in the sun where a young child’s core body temperature may increase three to five times faster than that of an adult.
• The mother could return to the SUV only to discover her keys and children are locked inside.
• The toddler could strangle herself with the vehicle restraints or by playing with power windows.
• A stranger could break into the automobile and steal it with the children inside; after all, the keys are readily available to the thief.
Ramstein has had three reported cases of unattended children in cars over a span of seven days.
“This is alarming,” said Lt. Col. Brian Yates, 86th Airlift Wing chief of safety.
“It is never okay to leave young children unattended in a motor vehicle, no matter what the excuse is.”
This problem is not isolated to Ramstein. Since 2002, more than 100 children in the U.S. have died each year trapped in a vehicle’s passenger compartment.
If anyone encounters a vehicle with unattended children on base, they should call the Law Enforcement Desk at 480-2050 immediately.
Know the law: KMC directives state that children under 10 years of age may not be left alone in a parked car. There is no German law specifying what age children must be to be left alone in a parked car; rather, the law states it is up to the good judgment of a parent or adult to make the decision.
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Consider this scenario: a mother straps in her three-year-old toddler and six-month-old baby as her bulky key chain hangs from her mouth. As she is strapping them into their car seats, a gust of wind knocks the diaper bag off the roof of her SUV, spilling the contents onto the hot pavement. She takes deep breaths, situates her children and takes off for errands around Ramstein.
When she gets to the base post office, she is still out of breath from getting the kids into the car a few minutes ago. She decides to leave the kids strapped into their car seats with the car running and air conditioning on; after all, she is just running in to get the mail.
Wrong decision.
Although she anticipates a quick two-to-three-minute stop in the post office, she has left her children open to the following risks:
• The three-year-old toddler could unbuckle her safety belt and unknowingly shift the car into drive or reverse.
• The six-month-old baby could be sitting in the sun where a young child’s core body temperature may increase three to five times faster than that of an adult.
• The mother could return to the SUV only to discover her keys and children are locked inside.
• The toddler could strangle herself with the vehicle restraints or by playing with power windows.
• A stranger could break into the automobile and steal it with the children inside; after all, the keys are readily available to the thief.
Ramstein has had three reported cases of unattended children in cars over a span of seven days.
“This is alarming,” said Lt. Col. Brian Yates, 86th Airlift Wing chief of safety.
“It is never okay to leave young children unattended in a motor vehicle, no matter what the excuse is.”
This problem is not isolated to Ramstein. Since 2002, more than 100 children in the U.S. have died each year trapped in a vehicle’s passenger compartment.
If anyone encounters a vehicle with unattended children on base, they should call the Law Enforcement Desk at 480-2050 immediately.
Know the law: KMC directives state that children under 10 years of age may not be left alone in a parked car. There is no German law specifying what age children must be to be left alone in a parked car; rather, the law states it is up to the good judgment of a parent or adult to make the decision.