How exactly do you forget a 2yr old in the car?

[Modelworks]

I wonder how hard it would be to make a car sensitive to a forgotten occupant. Maybe automatically roll down the windows or something, or even call OnStar.

Seat sensors already exist and would be easy to extend to all seats in the car. I don't think you will see any company marketing it as a kid left in car feature though. Implying their customers are people that would forget their kid isn't something they would want.

 

[Atreus21]

If you actually want to try and understand here is something worth a read:

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?

Jesus Christ I can't read the whole thing. It's horrible.

 

[Atreus21]

Seat sensors already exist and would be easy to extend to all seats in the car. I don't think you will see any company marketing it as a kid left in car feature though. Implying their customers are people that would forget their kid isn't something they would want.

I think if some education on the nature of the offense accompanied the feature, that parents would line up to sign up. If you read Linflas' link, you realize this is not something that is entirely within your control to avoid.

 

[SandEagle]

i can see this happening to someone who changes their daily routine. for example, i once read an article where the mom always used to drop the kid off at daycare. one day she couldnt make it and asked her husband to drop kid off. husband forgot child is in car and followed normal work route. found kid dead after work. sucks

 

[dahunan]

a child dies and we pick on people for the name of the dead child?

that is scary

 

[dahunan]

i can see this happening to someone who changes their daily routine. for example, i once read an article where the mom always used to drop the kid off at daycare. one day she couldnt make it and asked her husband to drop kid off. husband forgot child is in car and followed normal work route. found kid dead after work. sucks

Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Vette73]

a child dies and goons turn racist and pick on people for the name of the dead child?

that is scary

Racist? How so. Search for the name and many people black, white, etc... show up.

 

[ShawnD1]

Seat sensors already exist and would be easy to extend to all seats in the car. I don't think you will see any company marketing it as a kid left in car feature though. Implying their customers are people that would forget their kid isn't something they would want.

Apple blatantly advertises that their computers are made for retards, and they seem to have a very loyal fan base. It's not a large one, but a loyal one. I remember one Apple switch commercial where a woman had no idea how to get pictures off a camera (hint: the camera will show up as a removable drive). One guy didn't know how to plug his camera into his computer (it's a fucking USB cable omg what do I do).

i can see this happening to someone who changes their daily routine. for example, i once read an article where the mom always used to drop the kid off at daycare. one day she couldnt make it and asked her husband to drop kid off. husband forgot child is in car and followed normal work route. found kid dead after work. sucks

I know a lot of us are sleep deprived for various reasons (word of warcraft) but that doesn't excuse doing stupid shit. If I fall asleep while driving and I hit a pedestrian, my ass still goes to jail. Even though it was an accident and I'm really really sorry it happened, it's still a crime. Them's the rules.

At best, one should get a lighter sentence if there are many indications that it was an accident. Changing the daily routine and forgetting is plausible. "I was just going inside for a minute" = rot in jail you piece of shit

 

[MotF Bane]

1. No where in anything I posted suggested this be made mandatory or retrofitted to existing vehicles.

2. All cars manufactured in/imported into the US today already have sensors installed in at least the driver seat for activating the seatbelt idiot light and chime.

3. If there were a simple way to do this no doubt some manufacturer would already be doing it and reaping the rewards. That does not mean that they won't figure out a way to do it at some point, after all airbags were considered to be an impractical idea in the 1970's and look at the advances made with that germ of an idea in 40 years.

1. My post did not suggest it be mandatory in any way; but it would need to be retrofitted to be a usable system on older vehicles.

2. And then you need the rest of the seats. After all, you could have three adults in the car, plus the baby seat, stop somewhere, and both of the front occupants leave. Still an adult in there.

3. Reaping the rewards? 15-25 incidents a year, where the chances of the parent involved owning one of the limited grouping of vehicles with such a feature? :/

Edit:

Then there is the Chattanooga, Tenn., business executive who must live with this: His motion-detector car alarm went off, three separate times, out there in the broiling sun. But when he looked out, he couldn't see anyone tampering with the car. So he remotely deactivated the alarm and went calmly back to work.

Or there's that.

 

[Atreus21]

I think GM's OnStar service could be put to use to combat this.

Having just had my daughter six weeks ago, if I were looking for a new car, and I knew some cars came with such a feature, I'd buy it.

 

[dahunan]

Racist? How so. Search for the name and many people black, white, etc... show up.

I changed it ... but either way... I think it must be some way not to deal with the hurt emotions we have that are caused by the childs death...

I was pretty sure it was some sort of Greek or Hebrew name.. but the name is the last thing that mattered

 

[drebo]

So if I fire my gun and kill someone I should get off as it was the first time I fired it and I also did not mean to do it?

And how many kids do I have to cook before it becomes a "recurring pattern"?

Sorry; but if you kill someone you have to answer for it, period.

Critical reasoning

--------

Your head.

Seriously, though, if you represent the "average person" as far as intelligence goes, we are ALL FUCKED. I said if the NEGLIGENCE was chronic. There are many forms of negligence: kid goes to school in dirty clothes, parent sends bad lunches with kid, recurring lice on kid, etc. There are many ways to demonstrate that a parent is chronically negligent with their kid.

Shooting someone deliberately falls under the "willful" category. If the guy deliberately left his kid in the car, he should be prosecuted for first degree murder. If he was under the influence of any kind of substance, he should be prosecuted for negligent homicide. If he is otherwise a good and loving parent who fucked up once, sending him to prison is not the answer.

Now, for the love of god, learn how to reason and think critically.

 

[Modelworks]

I think GM's OnStar service could be put to use to combat this.

Having just had my daughter six weeks ago, if I were looking for a new car, and I knew some cars came with such a feature, I'd buy it.

Looking at it from an engineers perspective you would need something that could tell the difference between a passenger in the seat and a baby in the seat. Using just a simple pressure sensor wouldn't work because if someone was left sitting in the car, like a 5yr old with others in the car while someone went inside a store it would be hard to determine what the situation was.

What could be done is to combine the pressure sensor with a temperature sensor. Weight on the seat and the temperature is outside temps safe for humans then the alarm is triggered. Would be very simple to implement on a car. I could do it with $20 in parts from my parts drawer it is so simple.

Curious I checked what it would cost to make a DIY version for someone without any supplies at all:

Force Sensitive Resistor 0.5" $6.95
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9375

One Wire Digital Temperature Sensor - DS18B20 $4.25
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=245

Arduino Pro 328 - 5V/16MHz $19.95
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9219

Relay SPDT Sealed - Mini $1.95
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=524

$33 for a DIY version.


resistor determines weight based on pressure and connects to arduino board. Temp sensor can read -30 F to 120F connects to arduino. Relay connects to arduino and when triggered closes wire to cars alarm system setting it off.

 

[dfuze]

I wonder how hard it would be to make a car sensitive to a forgotten occupant. Maybe automatically roll down the windows or something, or even call OnStar.

In theory it wouldn't be too hard to do your first part. My car has a sensor in the front passenger seat, if my kids sit in it when I start the car it weighs them and turns off the passenger airbag. If my wife sits there, it turns it on. Also, if I use the remote to unlock the doors and don't open them within 30 seconds it relocks. I'm pretty sure using a combo of that technology you could do what you are looking for already.

 

[Vette73]

Critical reasoning

--------

Your head.

Seriously, though, if you represent the "average person" as far as intelligence goes, we are ALL FUCKED. I said if the NEGLIGENCE was chronic. There are many forms of negligence: kid goes to school in dirty clothes, parent sends bad lunches with kid, recurring lice on kid, etc. There are many ways to demonstrate that a parent is chronically negligent with their kid.

Shooting someone deliberately falls under the "willful" category. If the guy deliberately left his kid in the car, he should be prosecuted for first degree murder. If he was under the influence of any kind of substance, he should be prosecuted for negligent homicide. If he is otherwise a good and loving parent who fucked up once, sending him to prison is not the answer.

Now, for the love of god, learn how to reason and think critically.

Prove someone did it. I understand law and the way YOU phrased it, it would be impossible to charge someone unless they wrote/told many what they were planning.
The new way you are trying to spin it then everybody would be charged. I had lice once growing up, had many bad lunches, and even wore some clothes that had holes in them. Yet my parents were never had “negligence” in raising me. Yet by your definition someone could group all these unrelated items together and say “It’s a PATTERN!!!”.

And again prove I shot bob on purpose. My word is it was an accident. Same thing a parent will say when they cook their kid. “Opps I have to live with that so don’t charge me…”

You apparently think everything is black and white and can be proved easily. I work for the Fed and know its next to impossible to prove someone stole something. They can always say they were going to bring the laptop back. Same in this case; killing your kid by itself is negligence enough to warrant charges.

“If he is otherwise a good and loving parent who fucked up once, sending him to prison is not the answer.”
So if I am a good parent to those that know me and throw my kid down the stairs as I am tired of child support I guess I can get off on your rules.

Grow up and get out of your parents basement, the real world does not work like the weenend family TV movie.

 

[tk149]

If you actually want to try and understand here is something worth a read:

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?

Thank you for that article. fvck, i'm crying at work.

 

[tk149]

Looking at it from an engineers perspective you would need something that could tell the difference between a passenger in the seat and a baby in the seat. Using just a simple pressure sensor wouldn't work because if someone was left sitting in the car, like a 5yr old with others in the car while someone went inside a store it would be hard to determine what the situation was.

What could be done is to combine the pressure sensor with a temperature sensor. Weight on the seat and the temperature is outside temps safe for humans then the alarm is triggered. Would be very simple to implement on a car. I could do it with $20 in parts from my parts drawer it is so simple.

Curious I checked what it would cost to make a DIY version for someone without any supplies at all:

Force Sensitive Resistor 0.5" $6.95
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9375

One Wire Digital Temperature Sensor - DS18B20 $4.25
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=245

Arduino Pro 328 - 5V/16MHz $19.95
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9219

Relay SPDT Sealed - Mini $1.95
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=524

$33 for a DIY version.


resistor determines weight based on pressure and connects to arduino board. Temp sensor can read -30 F to 120F connects to arduino. Relay connects to arduino and when triggered closes wire to cars alarm system setting it off.

Linflas posted an article which has some information on what happened when some guys built a sensor device.

 

[Vette73]

If you actually want to try and understand here is something worth a read:

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?

WTF...

"A group of middle-schoolers filed into the room for a scheduled class trip to the courthouse. The teacher clearly hadn't expected this; within a few minutes, the wide-eyed kids were hustled back out."

If you are taking kids to a courthouse should you at least check to see what cases are being heard?
OK kids sit down, this case is about... lets see... a women being gang raped and they are just about to show the hospital pictures... oh... :hmm:

 

[highland145]

Having just had my daughter six weeks ago, if I were looking for a new car, and I knew some cars came with such a feature, I'd buy it.

+1 for the kid.

 

[Modelworks]

Linflas posted an article which has some information on what happened when some guys built a sensor device.

I think one key might be to not market it as a baby left in car device but instead an occupant safety device. One that triggers if any thing is on the seats in excess of x amount of weight and temps inside the car are outside safe ranges. They could say it was for situations where a car has engine trouble or a flat tire or even the driver decides to nap beside the road and falls asleep . Many people die each year from falling asleep in cold environments. Or for situations like leaving a pet in the car and not realizing how hot or cold it really was.

Liability for failure of the system to save a life might come up but I think it would fall under the preventative device laws ( like smoke alarms) and not the laws of things involved in directly preventing death like airbags.

 

[highland145]

"Hey, I found my Zippo ,rah."
O.B. "O.K." write, write.

Left my son at church when he was ~4. Wife left early. I thought she had him. Get home and no kid. Oops. He's 9 and still asks about it every now and again.

 

[JD50]

I could see it easily happening to a lot of people. If you're not used to taking your kid with you and your child is asleep in the back seat, it would be pretty easy to forget that they're back there.

 

[shortylickens]

a child dies and we pick on people for the name of the dead child?

that is scary

If you know how to perform resurrections I would love to hear about it.

 

[dainthomas]

I don't know the whole backstory, but this guy's life is already ruined. Why send him to prison? What good is that going to do?

Yes, it's a terrible thing, and he's going to have to live with it for the rest of his life. Is it really justice to send him to prison? Now, if he was willfully negligent and has a history of negligence, that's a completely different story. But if it was an honest mistake, my feeling is that he's already punishing himself worse than the state could ever dream.

Dumb argument. If I'm messing with my radio and plow through a crosswalk killing some kid, I will feel absolutely tormented the rest of my life and I would be highly unlikely to do anything like that again. Should I also not be punished?

 

[Jeraden]

I can see a number of scenarios where the father could legitimately have forgotten the child with no ill intentions and no real criminal neglect.
The article just says the "family" returned from church, but makes no mention of who exactly makes up the family and who was in the car. If they had other kids, the other kids could be bugging dad so bad that he goes to tend to something, then gets distracted by another kid, and next thing you know he forgot to go back and get the 21 month old. I've left my trunk open on numerous occasions in the driveway because I simply forgot to go back out and close it after bringing something in.
Is there a mother? Father might have assumed the mother got the toddler, and the mother assumed the father did.