Dallas students invent device to save children from heat deaths

One tragic, frequent story here in Texas is of children being accidentally left in a car or transportation van when the distracted driver leaves to take care of something. With the heat here frequently over 100 degrees, few months pass when there's not at least one (or more) deaths from this very preventable cause.

Two freshmen, working as interns at Texas Instruments, have come up with a device that sends an alert to your watch if you step too far from a vehicle with a child in the car seat:
www.wfaa.com...

...and what's really cool is that one of my friends knows the young woman member of this team. Said she was in his engineering class and had nothing but praise for her character and intelligence.

Here's a link to the video:
www.youtube.com...

Here's a link to the demo:
www.youtube.com...

Here's the wiki on it:
processors.wiki.ti.com...

This story really needs to be promoted more. It was on WFAA, our local channel, and I'm disappointed to see it hasn't been picked up. Perhaps it'll get some Diggs or something.

I thought that the invention designed to prevent heat deaths of children was called a "parent".

If a parent doesn't have the natural instincts to remember that their friggin' KID IS IN THE CAR, then I'm pretty sure that's nature's way of saying, "You are the weakest link, goodbye."

In short, I'm serious. When I lived in Phoenix, there were news stories of mothers shopping at Walmart who forgot they had brought their kid with them IN THE CAR. After 45 minutes of shopping, they came back to the car only to realize their kid was cooked.

A parent like that doesn't deserve to have offspring. Not only should that parent loose the custody of any remaining children, that parent should be sterilized to be prevented from ever having children again.

Something just isn't right about an animal that neglects it's children.

This would work way better if you used a cellphone with bluetooth to communicate with the switch in the seat.. It could easily be made and sold by car manufacturers as an option for "parents who care"..

I agree with "harrytuttle", but I'm pretty sure, that some slick prick is going to make millions with this type of "invention"...

Not going to help.
Parents who want to leave their kids in the car will do it anyway; they're not going to change their minds about going into a store just because something beeps when they walk up to it. It's always, "I'll just be a minute, just another minute ... just one more minute"

Condemnation aside, it's not hard to understand the mindset.
Once you start shopping, the musac, the crowds, the stress over what to get, and the parent may be tired anyway, yes, you can even forget your own children if they're not under your feet.
I've never forgotten kids left in a car, but only because I'd never leave them alone in a car in the first place. I have left the supermarket and only realised when I got home to a super-quiet house my boys were still in the toys aisle.

Yes, I did go back and get them.

The only cure for these tragic car-bakings is for parents to never leave their kids alone in a car, ever.
Perhaps we should make it illegal?
Americans treasure their freedoms, so I'm not sure how that would go down.

Btw, in Australia, most of the car-bakings happen in the car parks of casinos while their parent is busy gambling.
It never happened until state governments here discovered how much money they, (and their buddies,) could make by encouraging the development of legal gambling joints everywhere so zombified people can pour their childrens food money into the most boring machines invented..
One has to wonder if killing their own kid at least cured their gambling addiction . . .
The cure here has been to have security staff patrol these areas regularly.

reply to post by Kailassa

Perhaps we should make it illegal?

It is illegal in Michigan to leave your children in a car unattended and they do arrest people and prosecute them here. They get arrested for leaving children in a car whether it's a death or not.

There is also the danger of kidnapping which has happened in this country over and over.

Sadly every summer I see two or three children in the news who have died from being left in a car.

reply to post by harrytuttle


I wish I could give you a million stars.

Apathy..
Hmph!!!

Anyone that would leave their child unattended in a car is a moron.
I've seen it as well as put a stop to it in public.
You wouldn't believe the rage I got from doing that.
Damn!! What is wrong with people?