Mother opens up about emotional moment when she almost left her son in a car

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As temperatures rise outside, it's the time of year where we tend to be more cautious and think about the risk of leaving kids and pets in hot cars. "Kids and Cars", a local organization, emphasizes just how easy it is to forget a child or pet is in the backseat. It doesn't necessarily mean the family is abusive or neglectful.

"This isn’t a function of parents becoming 100x more irresponsible overnight, this is a direct result of them being out of sight in the vehicle," said Amber Rollins, the Director of "Kids and Cars".

It happens when your brain goes into auto pilot, like driving home or getting to work, not knowing how you got there. It's situations like that where it can be easy to forget there's a child in the back seat.

"Kids and Cars" finds an average of 38 children nationwide die every year after being left in a hot car. Already this year, there have been eight national deaths.

"My son made a screeching noise in the back seat, and I slammed on the breaks and instantly began sobbing because I realized it had happened to me," she said. "I lost awareness he was with me, and I had been working on this issue at that time for well over a decade. You know, I knew more about this topic than most people on planet earth and it still happened to me."

It happened recently in Lenexa, a toddler left in a hot car. At last check, the child is still in critical condition and police are investigating what led to this.

"As a parent to try to understand how that happened to you and to feel that responsibility, it’s the worst thing in the entire world," Rollins said. "You know, these families just never really recover."

"Kids and Cars" wants to make sure that no family has to go through this pain. Their number one tip is to "look before you lock" even if you don't think anyone is in the backseat.

The second tip is keeping a stuffed animal in the car seat that you move to the front seat when your child gets in the car. It's a visual reminder that someone is there. You can also leave an every day necessity in the back seat, like keys or a laptop, that you need to get to before work, as a way to check.

"Kids and Cars" is also working on a federal level, working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to bring hot car technology to all cars in the future.

"Every new vehicle sold in the United States will have to come with this technology," Rollins said. They [NHTSA] are in the regulatory process right now trying to determine what exactly that technology will look like."

The NHTSA is supposed to have a final decision on what this technology will be come November, but the process is taking longer than expected. That's why knowing these easy tips is even more important.