RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, vehicular heatstroke can befall a child with the most conscientious parent or caregiver in a tragedy compounded by the fact that it is preventable; and
WHEREAS, the first heatstroke death of 2018 has already occurred in Miami, Florida in the beginning of March, as a child died after being forgotten in the backseat of a car while the mother went to work; and
WHEREAS, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2017 there were 42 heatstroke deaths of children in vehicles in the United States, a 63% increase from 2015; and
WHEREAS, a child's body overheats three to five times faster than an adult's and when a child's body temperature reaches 107 degrees, they can die of heatstroke; and
WHEREAS, it only takes a car 10 minutes to heat up 20 degrees internally and become deadly to a child; and
WHEREAS, according to KidsAndCars.org
, an advocacy group that conducts research on car-related child endangerment, the temperature inside a vehicle can reach 110 degrees when there is an outside temperature of just 60 degrees; and
WHEREAS, the group notes that, even with slightly open windows, a car's internal temperature can reach 125 degrees in a matter of minutes; and
WHEREAS, the organization also finds that, since 1994, 804 children have died from heat-related illnesses in cars in the United States, including 20 children in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, in these 804 deaths, approximately 55% of the children were unknowingly left in the car, 28% of children climbed in on their own, and another 13% were knowingly left in the car; and
WHEREAS, nationally, on average, 37 children die each year from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside vehicles; and
WHEREAS, while not as prevalent as heat-related deaths, children left in cold vehicles are at an increased risk for both hyperthermia and hypothermia, according to Dr. Letitia Ryan, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Children'...
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