Last week, a baby in Georgia and Florida died when a relative not used to doing daycare drop off before heading in to work accidentally forgot the baby strapped in the car seat on a hot day.
Unfortunately this is very common in the United States and around the world.
On average, 38 children die in the U.S. each year after being left in a hot car and last year it was 44. In Atlanta, more than 22 children have died this way since 1990, and it happens among the most loving and protective parents of every color and socioeconomic background.
Since auto manufacturers haven’t stepped up to install devices to help prevent the nearly 700 children heatstroke deaths when left in a car in warm temperatures, tech startup Babeep has. The device plugs into cigarette lighter (and comes with a USB port for charging the phone) and it alerts the driver with baby sounds and audible lighted alerts after the driver turns off the engine.
It may seem silly to some that such a warning would be needed, but when you think about deaths like the one in Trinidad a couple months ago when a grandad not used to dropping off a grandkid to daycare forgot he was in the back seat and the baby died, you realize how really needed the device is.
The creators invented Babeep after a relative forgot his baby in the car and almost had a tragic end. When searching for a solution to prevent such a tragedy proved fruitless, they decided to make it themselves and started by interviewing parents. The device, which is in prototype stages and will be brought to market soon, also alerts passerbys if the baby was left in a parking lot and a parent’s mobile that they may have forgotten the baby in the car.
The plug and play device will be $40, is radiation free, and works in 99% of cars, according to the manufacturers who are currently raising money on Indiegogo Crowd-Funding site to get funding to bring the device to market.
It really is too bad that automobiles have warning about leaving the dome light on, the keys in the car and even when you are too close to the curb or another care when parking but not a warning about a baby left in the car.
Check out a video about the device below: