From BZ/dpa
Summer is here and with it really hot days. If the temperatures rise, it quickly gets really hot in the parked car – a great danger for the children and animals left behind.
It’s a sweltering heat today. Now turn to the supermarket, scurry in and then drive home. That’s quick, children and dog can stay in the car for a short time. Not correct. According to the ADAC, in summer the car can become a deadly heat trap for them in the worst case. Children and animals should never be left in the car – not even for a short time.
The temperature there can quickly rise to 60 degrees Celsius. Leaving children or animals in the sun in a parked car can even endanger their lives.
Even open windows are irrelevant. The car club has made appropriate investigations. Cars of the same construction with differently opened windows at an outside temperature of 28 degrees achieved almost the same menacing values.
If the windows stayed closed, the temperature rose to 38 degrees after just ten minutes. And after 20 minutes the thermometer showed 45 degrees. In the car with two windows slightly rolled down, the values climbed to 36 and 42 degrees respectively.
Well over 50 degrees were measured in both cars after an hour in the blazing sun.
Passers-by should also pay attention to children and animals in cars
If you happen to see a car with children or animals left behind in the summer, you should act quickly, depending on the situation. The ADAC points out that small children in particular do not know how to help themselves and usually cannot even get out of the child seat on their own.
It is therefore advisable to create publicity when in doubt and to draw others’ attention to the situation.
In a supermarket parking lot, you could first try to have those responsible in the store paged. But calling the police or the fire brigade is always the right thing to do. Rescuers can open the car without breaking the window, which could otherwise injure the occupants.
In an emergency, try to break the window yourself
If you want to break a window yourself in an emergency because there is imminent danger and a child is about to collapse, it is better to notify the police or the fire department beforehand. It is also advisable to take a photo as evidence of the situation, for example with your cell phone. Otherwise there is a risk that there may be disputes with the owner of the car due to damage to property
If adults were accidentally locked in the car, they can draw attention to themselves better than children. That may well be necessary. Because not all cars that are locked from the outside can be easily opened from the inside, according to the ADAC.
