Beware the stationary car

One afternoon nine weeks ago, 10-year-old Kip got behind the wheel of his mother’s car in a parking lot in Embakasi, Nairobi. The car still had the keys in the ignition. Having seen his mother drive many times before, he set off the brakes and the car which was parked on high ground began rolling and crashed into a wall. While the car was damaged, Kip was lucky to walk out without a scratch.

Two weeks after this, Debra a mother of three noticed a child sleeping in the backseat of a car at the parking lot of a shopping mall in Nairobi. The weather was hot and she imagined that it was insanely hot in the car and the child must be uncomfortable.

She hang around the vehicle for a few minutes during which she posted a distress message on Facebook. When the child woke up and started crying, Debra decided that she couldn’t wait any longer. She followed her first instinct, broke into the vehicle and removed the child.

With road accident deaths clocking as high as 13, 000 every year, according to the World Health Organisation’s estimates for Kenya, most parents pay attention to safety while on the road with their children. However, little or no attention is paid to stationary cars. Many parents are oblivious to the fact that even a parked car can turn into a threat for their kids.

While the two children above were lucky to get out unharmed, many things could have gone wrong. Maryana Munyendo, the founder of Simba Safe, a child safety training company, speaks about the danger of heat stroke.

PREVENTABLE ACCIDENTS

“During hot weather, temperatures inside a car can rise to dangerous levels pretty fast. This can lead to rapid dehydration, suffocation and eventually hyperthermia or heat stroke which can lead to death. Children have smaller bodies and are thus more vulnerable. Even a few minutes could mean the difference between life and death,” she warns.

There may be that temptation to dash out to get something from a store just for a few moments  instead of disturbing your sleeping child but Maryanna insists that it is better to wake a sleeping a child and to take them along with you.

“In addition to the danger of heat stroke, a car can be stolen from the parking lot with the child still in it and many bad things could happen to this child. It is better to be safe,” she says.

Stationary car accidents may not be as common as highway accidents but they happen and it is clear that they can be just as, if not more, deadly. Most of these accidents are preventable. How are other mothers keeping their children safe?

Juggling between work and parenting can be a task especially if you have younger children. Sometimes things slip your mind. Rossie Njeru, a mother of two, knows this well. She had memory lapses during her second pregnancy which she attributes to pregnancy brain. One evening, after picking her daughter up from day care, she forgot the sleeping child in the car and went about her business in the house for almost a full hour before she realised something was amiss.

“My memory is definitely better now but I do not take any chances. Whenever I have the kids in the car, I put a reminder in the backseat -- either my handbag or my phone. This way, I am sure I will not forget again,” she shares.

Grace Ocholla, a mother of three aged between two and seven, says that the family has a designated spot at the front door where the children stand when welcoming their parents in the evenings or seeing them off in the mornings.

CAR TRAP

“There are many children below the age of five in the block of apartments where we live and thus a high risk of accidents in the driveway. I walk around my car and check under it every time before starting it. I never let my children play in the car, even when it is being washed,” she says.

The other risk that parked cars pose is that of entrapment. Gaby Chege, a mother of three, is very aware of this risk especially with children playing hide-and-seek.

“I make sure to lock all doors and the trunk after parking then I keep the keys out of sight. More importantly, I have taught my 12-year-old how to open the doors in the event that a child is trapped and there is no adult in sight,” she says.

Maryana advises that the most important prevention measure is educating the children.

“All the care in the world may not prevent an accident if you do not teach the children in an age-appropriate language about the dangers of parked cars and how they can keep themselves safe in and around such cars.”

SAFETY IN A MOVING CAR

•  Always use a baby car seat. Ensure that it is properly installed.

•  Children are safest in the back seat.

•  Make sure children keep heads and limbs inside the car while on the road.

•  Make sure children are buckled up before driving. You can enforce this by making sure that you also always buckle up. Children learn best from observation.

•  Chatting with your children while driving will keep them engaged, happy and less likely to engage in dangerous activity.