It’s summer and we all know how hot it can get in Roseville. On a typical sunny day, the temperature inside a vehicle can reach a potentially deadly level within minutes.
Never leave a child alone in a vehicle, not even for a minute.
Babies and young children can sometimes sleep so peacefully that we forget they are even there. It can be tempting to leave a child in a car while you quickly run into the store. However, this is a dangerous idea.
Young children are particularly at risk as their bodies heat up
three to five times faster than an adult’s. Leaving a child alone in a car can lead to serious injury or death from heatstroke.
Every summer, heartbreaking and preventable deaths occur when children are left alone in hot cars. According to the nonprofit safety group Kids and Cars, more than 600 children have died this way since 1990.
California Law: Unattended children in motor vehicles
(CVC §15620): It is illegal to leave a child 6 years old or younger unattended in a motor vehicle.
NOTE: The child may be left under the supervision of a person 12 years old or older.
Additionally, and equally important, it is dangerous and illegal to leave children and/or animals in a hot vehicle. Dehydration, heat stroke, and death can result from overexposure to heat.
California Penal Code 597.7 prohibits leaving or confining an animal in any unattended motor vehicle under conditions that endanger the health or well-being of an animal due to heat.