Kids, Cars and Danger: Hot Car Deaths and Human Memory

Original Broadcast on April 7th, 2021

Janette Fennell had a rather dramatic beginning in her advocacy of car safety. Kidnapped at gunpoint with her husband, they were placed in the trunk of their own car and transported to an unknown location. After they managed to escape with their bare hands, she sought out data on cases of trunk entrapment and what could be done in terms of prevention. In time, she helped mandate interior trunk releases for all cars in the United States. Because of the efforts of this one-woman data collection machine, she began to work on the phenomenon of children dying in hot cars after lapses in memory by their parents. This episode focuses on the tragic and the hopeful. Dr. David Diamond, memory expert and neuroscientist, joins us to discuss his role in answering the question: “How could a parent mistakenly leave their own child in a vehicle?” As hundreds of children have died in hot car deaths, and notable criminal prosecutions have resulted, we delve into the intricacies of the human memory and technology that could save the lives of many.

Audio (podcast) of this interview:
https://criminalbehaviorology.podomatic.com
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Show Highlights:

- Janette’s kidnapping from her own garage and escape from being contained in the trunk of her car. The realization that the National Highway Safety Administration did not collect data on deaths and injuries related to vehicles not on the roads, despite numerous such incidents in many different ways.

- The reality of children being left in hot cars. The change in environment (within the car) that came from laws having children ride in the back to prevent deaths from airbag deployment.

- Notable cases such as the films Stop All Clocks and especially the Justin Ross Harris case in Fatal Distraction. Look for updates on the Harris case.

- How prosecutors are handling cases like this. The significance of public perception and particularly how the media has responded.

- Dr. Diamond discusses the significance of brain anatomy and his own experiences in the potential for a loss of awareness due to environmental and neurological factors.

- The Hot Cars Act and the potential for an improvement in vehicle safety using technology to save the lives of children.

- The significance of data collection in regards to why some issues are perceived as important and others are sadly neglected.

Janette Fennell - KidsAndCars:
https://www.kidsandcars.org

Dr. David Diamond:
https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-diamond-274127

Children dying in hot cars: a tragedy that can be prevented, by Dr. David Diamond
https://theconversation.com/children-dying-in-hot-cars-a-tragedy-that-can-be-prevented-60909

How one woman changed the safety standards of the entire car industry
https://thehustle.co/how-one-woman-changed-the-safety-standards-of-the-entire-car-industry/

Data on the change after children were required to ride in the back seat
http://www.kidsandcars.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/airbag_vs_heatstroke_EN.pdf

Pulitzer Prize-winning article..Fatal Distraction
https://www.kidsandcars.org/2016/07/08/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-the-backseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime-2/

Video About Vayyar Full-Cabin Monitoring Technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mi-B6kyow8

Vayyar Pioneers Full-Cabin Monitoring with One Radar-on-Chip
https://www.carsifu.my/news/vayyar-pioneers-full-cabin-monitoring-with-one-radar-on-chip

Backup camera in every new car puts safety at forefront
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/sc-auto-cover-0517-backup-camera-mandate-20180509-story.html

Advocacy battle regarding review cameras
https://associationsnow.com/2018/05/advocacy-battle-behind-rearview-cameras-cars/

The Hot Cars Act
https://www.kidsandcars.org/hot-cars-act-of-2019/

Stop All Clocks (2012)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2302841/

Fatal Distraction (2020)
https://www.fataldistractionmovie.com

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