(KLFY)– Governor Jeff Landry has proclaimed May 1 as Child Heatstroke Prevention Day; this comes as Louisiana leads the nation in most child deaths from being left in vehicles, according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.

In the last 26 years, 36 children in Louisiana have died from heatstroke after being left in vehicles. On a per capita basis, that’s the highest number of deaths in any state.

It’s not just a problem here in the South. Nationally, more than 965 children have died from vehicular heatstroke. It’s an issue the Acadiana Transportation Safety Coalition is taking very seriously as the scorching summer approaches.

“It’s just a devastating situation, and it can happen so quickly,” Ashley Moran with the Acadiana Planning Commission said. “I just can’t imagine.”

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She explained vehicular heatstroke can happen in less than 15 minutes. It can also happen to any family.

“Most of the times these cases happen in families where, you know, everybody is doing everything right. Parents are well educated, all these kind of things. They’ll just have one day where their routine will be off and that day will just, you know, obviously devastate their lives,” she added.

On average, one child dies from vehicular heatstroke every 10 days in the U.S. More than half of the deaths happen at home. Data also shows 52% of deaths happen when a child is forgotten.

“A lot of these a lot of these kind of things happen when the routines are off, and somebody else brings a child to daycare, somebody else runs an errand with the child that doesn’t typically do that. Then that’s when the forgetfulness happens because you’re kind of on autopilot a lot of times when you’re operating a motor vehicle or just, you know, going about your day,” Moran said.

Forgetfulness, however, isn’t always to blame.

“A car seems like a little jungle gym in a lot of cases,” Moran told News 10. “So they’ll go, and they’ll play in the car. But children are not really adept at getting in and out of vehicles, especially at younger ages. So they’ll get trapped in there, and so this is unfortunately a big thing.”

Having a day to remind people of the alarming issue is one way to always remember, “Once you park, stop. Look. Lock.”

“It helps people think about, hey, how can I make sure that this does not happen to me?” Moran added.

If you see a child in a hot vehicle, make sure they’re okay and responsive. If not, call 911.
Louisiana also has a Good Samaritan law that provides legal protection for those who rescue children from hot cars.

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