In the past six years 13 babies and small children forgotten in vehicles or transportation vehicles in Israel have died. There are a total of 212 recorded cases in the same time period.

Over 200 children have sustained mild to grave injuries as a result of being left in a vehicle. Most of the instances occur during the month of July and August, the hottest months of the year the Beterem Safe Kids Israel organization reported during a meeting of the Knesset Committee for Child Welfare.

A bill was presented during the meeting by Committee Chairwoman MK (Likud/Yisrael Beitenu) Orly Levi-Abekasis. The bill would compel school personnel to contact parents if a child fails to arrive in school. She feels this would be a major step in preventing future cases of children being left in vehicles for hours.

A number of new technological solutions were presented to the committee but they lack approval from the Standards Institute and it appears their continued development is stalled.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)