It was a record-setting year in terms of kids getting cooked in cars, which is bad news for two reasons: A) kids are getting cooked in cars and B) it's only September and it's still hot as hell outside.
The death of a 2-month-old Kingman girl puts the total number of kids who died in hot cars nationally this year at 48, which beats the old record of 47 in 2005.
The Kingman girl died on September 20. Police say her father forgot she was in the car and left her there for five hours in more than 100-degree heat. As the baby was in the car, the father took a shower -- followed by a nap -- before realizing the kid wasn't in the house.
In total, Arizona's had three kids die in hot cars this year, which puts us in the top three nationally.
According to a study from the Kansas-based organization Kids and Cars,
Texas tops the list with 13 deaths this year, followed by Florida with
5, and
Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee each have three.
Since 1998, an average of 37 kids die every year because they're left in a hot car.
With temperatures continually above average right now -- today's temperature was nearly a record for a September 29 at 106 degrees -- if you have a kid, and you have a car, do you your best to not leave the one in the other.
