Hot-Car Deaths By The Numbers In NJ, And How To Prevent Them

ACROSS NEW JERSEY — Temperatures in New Jersey are rising as summer 2021 hits full force, which means a heightened risk of death for any children left inside a hot car.

New Jersey totaled 14 hot car deaths among victims 14 years old or younger from 1998 to 2020, according to NoHeatStroke.org, a nonprofit organization that seeks to track every child hot-car death in America.

Per capita, that’s 8.7 hot car deaths per 1 million kids age 14 and younger, the statistics show. New Jersey ranks 19th in child hot-car deaths per capita.

More than 100 children have died from heat stroke after having been left in hot cars in Texas alone, with Florida recording the next highest number of child hot-car deaths with 96, according to NoHeatStroke.com. Per capita, Oklahoma has recorded the most.

Only three states — Alaska, New Hampshire and Vermont — have not recorded any child hot-car deaths since 1998.

In New Jersey, the most recent hot-car death occurred in 2019 in Lakewood and involved a 21-month-old toddler. According to NJ.com, the mother left her daughter alone in her vehicle for about 2.5 hours with the car off in the heat. A medical examiner later determined the toddler died from “exposure to increased environmental temperatures” and the death was ruled accidental.

This was not the first hot-car death in Lakewood. In 1998, 4-month-old Donya Chaya Pinter died from heat exposure after her mother left her in a parked car for 3.5 hours, the New York Times reported at the time.

In both Lakewood cases, the mothers were charged in connection with their children's deaths.

Other hot-car deaths have also been documented in Atlantic City, Westampton, Jersey city, Newton, East Orange and Camden. The ages of the victims have all ranged from 4 months to 10 years old.

Young children are at a heightened risk of dying of heat stroke, and not only due to their inability to escape a hot car. A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than that of an adult, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees, and children can die when theirs reaches 107.

As the national child hot-car death toll since 1998 approaches 900, the NHTSA has issued renewed reminders and tips to help parents and other caregivers prevent leaving children in cars during hot weather.

From the NHTSA:

1. Never leave a child in a vehicle unattended — even if the windows are partially open or the engine is running and the air conditioning is on.
2. Make it a habit to check your entire vehicle — front and back — before locking the door and walking away. Train yourself to “Park, Look, Lock,” or always ask yourself, "Where's Baby?"
3. Ask your child care provider to call if your child doesn’t show up for care as expected.
4. Place a personal item such as a purse or briefcase in the back seat, as another reminder to look before you lock. Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passenger's seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat.
5. Store car keys out of a child's reach and teach children that a vehicle is not a play area.