As hot UAE summer kicks in, further tragedy must be avoided

The deaths of children due to being locked inside cars on hot days can be prevented by better awareness. Delores Johnson / The National

The latest tragic case of child suffocation inside a car, as The National reported yesterday, was of two Emirati sisters, aged four and two, who died in their father's car this week after becoming trapped inside for about two hours in mid-afternoon heat.

In this case, the two girls entered the car while they were playing unsupervised in their home garden in Ajman, according to police, and the auto-lock prevented them from getting out. However, there are many cases of children who were left deliberately in a car during the summer, and suffer dehydration, shock or heatstroke.

Both police and health and safety experts have warned parents against the dangers of leaving children in cars, especially during the summer season when temperatures soar. The UAE now has a strict law against neglect, which would hopefully deter parents from leaving their children unsupervised under any circumstances. But it's important to remember that such cases are usually accidental. The only reason parents may leave their children locked in a car intentionally is because they may not be aware of the danger that heat poses for the child, even for a short period of time.

To tackle this issue, awareness is needed more than anything else. We don't want to see people prosecuted in such tragic cases. Campaigns, such as the one by Ajman police, are important and should be extended to social media and other popular platforms. Parents need to be aware that a child left in a car, even if it is parked in the shade, is not safe. Because unlike adults, children are extremely sensitive to heat, and it can directly impair their central nervous systems and shut down their bodies. Even with air conditioning, children who are left unsupervised in a car could turn the ignition key off, release the handbrake or open the door and get out.

Sometimes awareness is all it takes to change behaviour. After all, the biggest punishment for a parent would be the loss of a child – and, even worse, to be the reason for such a loss.