BAKERSFIELD,CA- Tuesday morning, the Department of Human Services is requesting the board of supervisors to proclaim August as purple ribbon month. It's an effort to curb the number of children who die of heatstroke after being left in a hot car.
Under Kaitlyn's Law, no child in California under six can be left in a car unattended without the supervision of someone 13 years or older.
The law is named after 6-month-old Kaitlyn Marie Russell who died after being left alone in a hot car.
A 10-month-old from Kansas is the latest victim of heatstroke after being left alone in a hot car.
"There have been 18 fatalities so far nationwide. Sadly, that includes two in California and one of those fatalities sadly was here in Bakersfield," said Heidi Carter-Escudero with the Department of Human Services.
Carter-Escudero said temperatures in a car can jump 30 degrees in half an hour.
To give you an idea of how quickly it can get dangerously hot, we tracked the temperature inside a car with a sensor.
The starting temperature once the a/c in the car was turned off was 77.7 degrees which was 20 degrees cooler than outside.
A half hour later the temperature inside jumped nearly 20 degrees to 94.2.
According to the website KidsandCars.org, an advocacy group that promotes child safety in and around cars, 44 children died of heatstroke after being left alone in a vehicle last year.
"51 percent of the time an adult has accidentally left a child behind," said Carter-Escudero.
Carter-Escudero says parents should create habits to avoid an accident.
"Put your cell phone in your purse or your brief case or your lunch bag back in the back seat with the baby because you're never going to forget that when you are going into work. In spite of the fact that your child is more important, it's all about habits."
Six hundred and six children left in hot cars have died of heatstroke in the United States since 1998.
According to a study by San Fransisco State University, of those, 29 percent were playing in a car unattended and a child was intentionally left inside 18 percent of the time.
"Time yourself the next time you're just going to jump into the grocery store and pick up a few items. Because I've never been able to go in and out in less than 20 minutes just about anywhere. Twenty minutes can be fatal," said Carter-Escudero.
Under Kaitlyn's Law, no child in California under six can be left in a car unattended without the supervision of someone 13 years or older.
The law is named after 6-month-old Kaitlyn Marie Russell who died after being left alone in a hot car.
A 10-month-old from Kansas is the latest victim of heatstroke after being left alone in a hot car.
"There have been 18 fatalities so far nationwide. Sadly, that includes two in California and one of those fatalities sadly was here in Bakersfield," said Heidi Carter-Escudero with the Department of Human Services.
Carter-Escudero said temperatures in a car can jump 30 degrees in half an hour.
To give you an idea of how quickly it can get dangerously hot, we tracked the temperature inside a car with a sensor.
The starting temperature once the a/c in the car was turned off was 77.7 degrees which was 20 degrees cooler than outside.
A half hour later the temperature inside jumped nearly 20 degrees to 94.2.
According to the website KidsandCars.org, an advocacy group that promotes child safety in and around cars, 44 children died of heatstroke after being left alone in a vehicle last year.
"51 percent of the time an adult has accidentally left a child behind," said Carter-Escudero.
Carter-Escudero says parents should create habits to avoid an accident.
"Put your cell phone in your purse or your brief case or your lunch bag back in the back seat with the baby because you're never going to forget that when you are going into work. In spite of the fact that your child is more important, it's all about habits."
Six hundred and six children left in hot cars have died of heatstroke in the United States since 1998.
According to a study by San Fransisco State University, of those, 29 percent were playing in a car unattended and a child was intentionally left inside 18 percent of the time.
"Time yourself the next time you're just going to jump into the grocery store and pick up a few items. Because I've never been able to go in and out in less than 20 minutes just about anywhere. Twenty minutes can be fatal," said Carter-Escudero.