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Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

washingtonpost.com

11–20 of 234 posts

Re: Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

#12
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what this article shows: it's not easy. It only deceptively seems so.

I'm a parent, I don't need to read an article to be able to tell you it is easy. If you are with a kid, just take her with you or if you can't do so, don't bring your kid along. Billions of people manage just fine.

Please read the article. It's not about people who leave the kid in the car purposefully while they go do something else.

It's about people who bring the kid in the car to drop them off somewhere, and they simply forget. Yes, it happens. Yes, to regular people.

And yes, billions of people manage to do even this just fine. But it's a reasoning flaw - a well-known human bias - to assume that the people to whom it happens must be different somehow.

Re: Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

#13

I read somewhere that Tesla had an innovation to prevent this, but then couldn't Google it later. Did I dream that it can anyone else remember what I half-recall?

2016: New Tesla software to prevent hot car deaths

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/21/luxury/elon-musk-tesla-hot-c...

Re: Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

#16

I read somewhere that Tesla had an innovation to prevent this, but then couldn't Google it later. Did I dream that it can anyone else remember what I half-recall?

Some GPS's have a specific chime and reminder for this when you get to your location if you enable the setting.

Re: Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

#17
post #4

The possibility of doing this terrifies me more than almost anything—by nature I'm a forgetful person. "Out of sight, out of mind" describes me down to a T.

my wife used to joke all the time that one day I would end up coming home and when I came into the house she would say 'but..where is our daughter?' and it would turn out I forgot her on the train. Lucky enough never happened. Frankly her mind isn't too focused either.

Re: Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

#18
post #4

The possibility of doing this terrifies me more than almost anything—by nature I'm a forgetful person. "Out of sight, out of mind" describes me down to a T.

I don't have children, but my concern for children makes me not want to be in any position of responsibility for them.

I've considered becoming a teacher before, and one of the reasons that I didn't was that I just didn't want to be responsibility for the welfare of children. If something ever happened while they were under my care, I'd feel horrible if something happened, even if it wasn't my fault. Not to mention the liability in the eyes of parents, who can be less than reasonable when it comes to their children.

I've also refused to take care of children of friends and family, for similar reasons.

Finally, I've decided not to ever have children of my own, once again partly because I just don't want the responsibility, and partially out of a concern that I'd probably just screw it up somehow. Not to mention that the world is way overpopulated as it is, and it doesn't need me adding yet another person to the mix.

Re: Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

#19

I read somewhere that Tesla had an innovation to prevent this, but then couldn't Google it later. Did I dream that it can anyone else remember what I half-recall?

Rather than a car feature, what about one of those sensors that alert you if the object is too far? And force the user to explicitly acknowledge that it's intentional (for when you leave them with someone else).

Re: Forgetting a Child in a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? (2009)

#20
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a parent, I don't need to read an article to be able to tell you it is easy. If you are with a kid, just take her with you or if you can't do so, don't bring your kid along. Billions of people manage just fine.

Please read the article. It's not about people who leave the kid in the car purposefully while they go do something else. It's about people who bring the kid in the car to drop them off somewhere, and they simply forget. Yes, it happens. Yes, to regular people. And yes, billions of people manage to do even this just fine. But it's a reasoning flaw - a well-known human bias - to assume that the people to whom it happe…

Yes, I've read it. Just because you didn't mean to do it doesn't mean it's not a crime. That's why it's called manslaughter and not murder, and that's why it carries a lower penalty.
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