Exclusive: Arizona father working to prevent future hot car tragedies

Staggering numbers of children left unaccompanied in hot vehicles. The National Safety Council reports on average, 37 children die each year from pediatric vehicular heatstroke.

California ranks third for most hot car deaths in America, with Arizona following closely behind in fourth, according to NoHeatStroke.org

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, yet we see it in news headlines every year.

Since 1998, 763 children have died from being left inside a hot vehicle, according to NoHeatStroke.org.

Erin J. O’Connor, an Arizona father of three, said the biggest mistake a person can make is having a mindset that it won’t happen to you.

“It can happen to you, it does happen to people every single day… this is so preventable, it’s senseless, it’s gotta be stopped,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor took action, taking his idea from paper to mobile app. Though not personally affected by a hot car tragedy, he spent 10 months finding a way to stop this problem.

With the help of The BackSeat.

“Reason for creating it was I got sick and tired of seeing news specials,” O’Connor added.

He adds that we see this issue every year not because of bad parenting, but because of outside normal daily routines.

“It happens purely out of parental distraction, we have so many things pulling us in so many different directions,” said O’Connor.

“Zip this thing up to 20 miles an hour.”

That’s what activates the app. It has detected that a trip has started. Once you come to a complete stop, the app ends the trip. The app will then alert you to make sure all passengers are accounted for.

If that app isn’t disabled with your four-digit pin, it starts a “rapid-fire” notification process, with each minute, the alarm getting louder and louder – even if your phone is set to silent.

“I want your phone to be losing its mind,” O’Connor said.

If those alerts fail, the app will sent three of your contacts a text and email of your GPS location and model and make of your car.

“That’s the game changer, that’s the coolest feature… that’s what I believe is the difference between an embarrassed parent and a devastated parent,” added O’Connor.

The app was released earlier this year, and at a perfect time. Arizona State University and University of California at San Diego released a new study on how hot a vehicle can get in both the sun and the shade and the affect it would have on a hypothetical 2-year-old child.

Nancy Selover is a state climatologist involved with the study at ASU. The 10 day study compared three sets of vehicles – mini-vans, sedans, and economy vehicle.

“We found that the cars heated up quicker in the sun than in the shade,” Selover added.

Researchers moved the cars between the sun and the shade multiple times on a typical 100-degree day, measuring air interior temperatures and surface temperatures.

“For vehicles parked in the sun during the simulated shopping trip the average cabin temperature hit 116 degrees in one hour. Dashboards averaged 157 degrees, steering wheels 127 degrees, and seats 123 degrees in one hour,” according to the study.

“For vehicles parked in the shade, interior temperatures were closer to 100 degrees after one hour. Dashboards averaged 118 degrees, steering wheels 107 degrees and seats 105 degrees,” the study continued.

“Children have a much less efficient system of cooling themselves, they have a harder time cooling themselves down,” Selover added.

She adds that vehicles can even reach the highest of temperatures.

“We had the highest of 192 on a dashboard under direct sunlight,” she added.

The National Safety Council graded states on promising practices, and it shows where states are on track or falling short.

Arizona was graded an “F”, for being off-track when it comes to children in hot cars law. California received a “B” grade for developing laws on children in hot cars laws.

For O’Connor, it’s not just hot car deaths he cares about.

“Statistics track the children we lose to death, statistics don’t remind you the children who are rescued but will live with permanent medical problems including brain damage… I’m not trying to just prevent death, it’s everything,” O’Connor said.

He said he feels accomplished for the amount of positive feedback he’s received from app-users.

The app is free in the Apple Store or Google Store if you want to check it out. For more information, you can visit TheBackSeat.net