Tips to Avoid Hot-Car Tragedies

Stuffed animals, briefcases and purses -- all tools which could save busy parents from forgetting their children and leaving them in cars, says San Francisco State University Professor Jan Null, who tracks hot-car deaths.

``Get in the habit, you know, of always looking in the back seat. Look all around your car as you get out. It's a good safety thing to do anyway," Null said in the wake of Tuesday's death of 17-month-old Ryan Gallagher, left for seven hours in a car outside the Phoenix restaurant where his mother worked.

Some props can help parents remember there's a child in the back seat, Null said.

``Leave a stuffed animal in the child's car seat. When you put the child in the car seat, put that stuffed animal up in the front seat with you, as a visual reminder.

``Put your wallet or briefcase or purse in the back seat. These are all the sort of things we automatically grab for, one more way to remember, `oh, yeah, the baby's also in the back seat.'"

Null said people at day care centers can be partners in avoiding tragedy.

``An agreement between yourself and the day care provider where, if the child does not show up and is expected, a phone call is made, just to verify. Most of these cases, the first hour early in the day, hopefully, no harm would come to the child in that amount of time, and a significant number of these lives could be saved."

Null said nearly half the cases of hot-car deaths of children are cused by busy parents who simply forgot the kids.