GEORGETOWN – Summer is almost here.
And with this the danger of suffering from heat stroke increases.
To raise awareness about this potentially deadly condition, the Delaware Office of Highway Safety and Division of Motor Vehicles held a program at the Georgetown DMV facility on Wednesday, which included a temperature-based comparison demonstration.
Their main message was that any individual or pet can be at great risk if left unattended in a vehicle, if the windows are open and there is no air conditioning.
“On average, vehicles will rise about 19 degrees in just 10 minutes,” said Aubrey Klick, child passenger safety coordinator for the Office of Highway Safety.
Ms. Klick was joined by Meghan Niddrie, OHS community relations officer, and Elliott Nicholas from marketing agency Aloysius Butler & Clark to demonstrate thermometers that measure the interior temperature of a closed vehicle, along with the temperature abroad.
About 90 minutes into the two-hour viewing, the temperature inside the vehicle reached 120 degrees. Ultimately, the gauge peaked at 125, which surpassed a previous mark of 122 degrees in a four-hour event in July 2022.
The outside air temperature in Georgetown on Wednesday was about 87 degrees.
Numbers like these, organizers said, can quickly lead to heat stroke, the most serious heat-related illness.
“Nationally, unfortunately, more than 900 children have died from pediatric vehicular heatstroke since 1998. That’s a lot,” Ms. Klick said. “About 52% of them were unknowingly abandoned, so people didn’t realize they were left there.”
Additionally, approximately a quarter of those deaths were attributed to children accessing the vehicle unsupervised.
“So, let’s say your car is parked at home and the child remembers, ‘Oh, I did an art project at school today and I want to go get it because I want to show it to Mom,’” Ms. Klick said. “But they don’t tell anyone. They go out to the car to get in. Many of our vehicles have child safety locks on the rear door. Then the boy enters and closes the door behind them. They don’t realize they can go to the front to get out and get stuck in the vehicle. Unfortunately, this happens every school year.”
Even on a 70-degree day, the temperature in an enclosed vehicle can quickly become too high for a person to survive, he added.
Additionally, children’s bodies heat up about five times faster than adults’ bodies.
“Therefore, they are especially susceptible to heat stroke,” he said. “They overheat much faster than we do because their bodies simply regulate temperature very differently.”
As part of the campaign, staff provided information on how to protect themselves against vehicular heat stroke.
Prevention is the main objective.
“Look before you close and then close before you leave. Check your car before you drive away and lock it. Always check your back seat,” Klick said. “A lot of people say, ‘This will never, ever happen to me.’ Never be too proud to just check your backseat. “It takes about two seconds and it could save a life.”
If someone finds a person or animal locked in a hot vehicle, the first step is to call 911.
“They will ask you how long you have been monitoring that situation, how long you have seen it and (you should) follow what they tell you to do,” Ms. Klick said.
The Office of Highway Safety held other heat stroke awareness events in Dover and Wilmington this month, along with National Heat Stroke Prevention Day, which was May 1, Ms. Niddrie said.
For information, visit ohs.delaware.gov.
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