PARENTS in Hoppers Crossing are leaving children locked in cars more often than anywhere else in Melbourne, Ambulance Victoria data reveals.
Melbourne suburbs accounted for 87 per cent of calls statewide, with Hoppers Crossing topping the metropolitan list with 26 incidents of children under 13 being left in cars.
Wyndham had 55 incidents in total, according to Triple-0 call figures for the 12 months to August. Of the 900 children left locked in cars across Victoria, 90 per cent were aged under four.
With high temperatures looming, Ambulance Victoria group manager Brett Drummond warned leaving children in a car could be deadly.
“Babies and young children can’t regulate their body temperature like adults can, so being left in a hot car can quickly become life threatening,” Mr Drummond said.
“Tests by Ambulance Victoria found even on a 29-degree day the inside of a car can heat up to 44 degrees within 10 minutes and reach 60 degrees within 20 minutes. This can be catastrophic and unfortunately in the past there have been cases of children dying in hot cars. Leaving them in the car even for a few minutes is not acceptable.”
In some cases parents left their child for a few minutes in a car thinking they would be all right, while others were the result of the keys accidentally being locked in the car with a child inside.
“Some people think they can just duck into the service station or a shop and leave their child, but there’s a risk they will be delayed and it’s a risk that’s not worth taking.”
Point Cook CFA rescued two young children from locked cars in Sanctuary Lakes on November 21 and Main Street, Point Cook on November 23.
Firefighter Bill Robertson said that under no circumstances should a child be left locked in a car.
