Media Release
Media Enquiries:
Dr. Mark Stokes, President Kidsafe Victoria Mobile; 0408 038 267
Ron Smith Corporate Media Communications Mobile 0417 329 201
Kidsafe Issues Urgent Warning Over Children In Hot Cars
Tomorrow “Don’t turn your car into a coffin!”
December 16th 2009 Kidsafe Victoria has issued an urgent warning to parents over the deadly
dangers of leaving children in cars on hot days as Victoria’s temperatures are expected to soar into
the forties today and over summer.
Dr Mark Stokes Victorian President of Kidsafe Victoria, said that in the past children have died from
being left in cars and over summer children's lives can be endangered within a couple of minutes during a hot
day.
“Even on what might seem a cool day it is still dangerous to leave a child in a car on their own given
the number of items and substances in a normal car.
“Following a death of a child and a campaign by Kidsafe five years ago legislation has now made leaving a
child unattended in a car a criminal offence. “
Tests conducted by Ambulance Victoria on a 29 degree day with the car's air conditioning having
cooled the interior to a comfortable 20 degrees showed it took just 10 minutes for the temperature to
more than double to 44 degrees and in a further 10 minutes it had tripled to a deadly 60.2 degrees.
Leaving the window down a few centimetres does little.
The warning is aimed at reinforcing the original Kidsafe program that encouraged warning stickers on entry
signs of all supermarket and public car parks to prevent children from being left in cars during hot days.
"Parents leaving children in hot cars run the risk of turning their cars into a coffin and it is vital that warning
signs on the entry to car parks should be heeded by parents.
"Some parents are playing Russian roulette with their children's lives by leaving them unattended in a car
whilst they go shopping.
"The temperature inside a parked car during the Australian summer can be 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the
outside temperature,” Dr Stokes said
NEWS 
