Commission de sécurité des consommateurs

Responsible Person	Completely forgot	Child left intentionally in the car	Circumstances unknown	Total
Father	5	4		9
Mother	2	4		6
Father and mother	1	2		3
Other relative	1	2		3
Professional	2	1		3
Unknown		1	1	2
Total	11	14	1	26
Total en %	42%	54%	4%	100%

 

 

 

a.       Criminalisation

 

 

In France, there is no specific legal provision penalising the leaving of a child unattended in a motor vehicle. As in the other European countries or the United States, in French law there are provisions punishing actions involving child harming, such as the abandonment of a minor (Article 227-1 of the Penal Code), the non-fulfilment of parental legal obligations (Article 227-17 of the Penal Code), the endangerment of another person’s life (Article 223-1 of the Penal Code), the deliberate withholding of assistance to a person in danger (Article 223-6 of the Penal Code), especially for health professionals (Article 121-1 of the Penal Code),[14] malpractice for paediatric nurses and childcare providers, or manslaughter (Article 221-6 of the Penal Code). The Court of First Instance of Vienne considered in its opinion of 11 December 2008 on the death of a child left unattended in a vehicle, that there were reasonable grounds for charges of manslaughter.

 

 

b.       The Highway Code

 

 

Article R. 412-2-II of the Highway Code states that any child under ten must be strapped to its seat by an approved child restraint system, appropriate to morphology and weight. The system is not mandatory if the child’s morphology allows it to wear a safety belt. The driver is responsible for the proper transportation of children. Failing to do so, the driver is liable for a fine for fourth-class misdemeanours (€135.00). The obligation has been broadened to include drivers of lorries, buses and coaches with nine seats or fewer.

 

Article R. 412-3 forbids the transport of a child under ten in the front seat of a vehicle, except in some special cases, namely when the backseats are momentarily useless or occupied by children under ten and “when the child is transported in a rear-facing position, with an approved restraint system specially designed for vehicle front seats and when the front airbag is deactivated.” Failing to comply with the provisions is punishable by a fine for fourth-class misdemeanours.

 

Systematically placing infants and toddlers in the appropriate seats on the front seat of motor vehicles where the driver can keep an eye on them would be an efficient means of preventing the risk of forgetting them in the car. Given the accidentology data collected by the Commission, at least one third of the accidents involving infants and toddlers could thus be avoided every year. Article R. 412-3 allows for this option, but does not make it mandatory. However, the practice is still not very widespread in France, the last European country where the practice was authorised (because regulations used to forbid this expressly). Placing children in the front seat is becoming more commonplace mainly for practical reasons: ‘hull’ seats are less expensive than standard baby seats and can be used to carry the child, or can be fitted onto a stroller. The use is strongly encouraged by highway safety services as can be seen in a published flier on baby car seats, where it says, “For the 0 (birth to 10kg) and 0+ (birth to 13kg) group, the child should travel in a rearward-facing baby seat, which will provide the best protection in a head-on collision.”

 

Consequently, the Commission addressed the relevance of introducing a specific offence forbidding and punishing the leaving of a child unattended in a motor vehicle into French law, similar to Decree no. 2003-293 of 31 March 2003 forbidding the use of a mobile phone when driving (Article 412-6 of the Highway Code). This type of provision detailing the offence would allow third-parties to overcome cultural taboos and legitimate  - de facto - any direct or indirect (asking law enforcement to do so) intrusion into an enclosed space (passenger compartment) or private property (a motor vehicle). This provision would also have an educational virtue by warranting the deployment of public and private information campaigns on the causes (specifically forgetfulness) and potential consequences of such acts. 

 

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that legally nothing runs counter to establishing an offence for the leaving of a young child unattended in a parked vehicle in circumstances liable to endanger its safety. The time required to implement the provision would vary, depending on the assigned degree of seriousness. A Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’État) Decree must be enacted for it to be deemed an offence (liable for a 1,500-euro fine); a law must be enacted for it to be deemed a crime punishable by a fine of at least €3,750 and a prison sentence of two months or more. 

 

 

 

In the United States and France, some parents whose children have died in this type of accident, some child protection associations[15] and safety system manufacturers support the idea that installing alarm systems in motor vehicles would limit the number of deaths of children left unattended in the passenger compartment, either intentionally or unintentionally. In the United States, associations have denounced the hazard of super-lock mechanisms on vehicles that have caused the death of several children entrapped in cars, as the doors could not be opened from the inside.

 

The Commission assigned Auto-innovations to conduct a market study that confirmed that warning systems telling a driver leaving a vehicle that a child is still in the car exist or could be available in the short-term. The system may or may not be hardwired to the car. However, installing warning systems comes up against several problems.

The systems should warn an adult (theoretically the driver getting out of the vehicle) that he/she has left a child in the passenger compartment. If the devices are to be optimum warning systems, nothing should prevent their activation - whether the child is alone or not, the weather hazardous or harmless to the child, or the car parked for a short or long time (engine off or on, ignition key in or out, windows down or up, trunk open or shut, doors locked or just closed). The warning per se should be both fast and efficient, exploiting every resource (sound, light, and vibrator) likely to catch the attention of the driver and/or third parties around or far from the vehicle, including emergency services. The system should be reliable, trigger a minimum of false alarms, and not be too hard to use.

 

 

 

a.       Devices hardwired to the motor vehicle

 

 

As of the publication date of the Recommendation, no preventive child-leaving devices coupled to motor vehicles exist either on the French, European or foreign markets, nor are they being engineered by car makers or equipment suppliers. On the US market, although industry operators or individuals have registered numerous patents, car makers do not offer any system of this type as a feature on standard car models. Due to incurred costs, their representatives are against any law that would make it mandatory for them to fit all cars with these devices.[16]

 

European car makers who largely share this position met the Commission. As their priority is the prevention of road hazards and, in light of the data provided by the Commission, they also feel that the probability of a child left unattended in a motor vehicle is very low and resulting risks cannot be considered as major. They have reservations about the economic efficiency and viability of technical devices for risk prevention.

 

Technical solutions do exist. However, numerous scenarios have to be taken into account, namely the constraints they entail on the position of the child in the motor vehicle (on the backseat, on the front seat but in a rearward-facing position, in a child seat, or asleep on the backseat) and vehicle configuration (two-door vehicles, or three rows of seats).  The problems do not so much involve detecting a critical situation as they do eliminating false alarms that may prompt adults either to ignore the received signal or switch off the system if it becomes too annoying. Signal range must also be powerful enough to transmit in various conditions and over an ample distance.

 

From an economic standpoint, car makers and equipment suppliers say that engineering active safety equipment involves sizeable design and production investments. However, installing this type of device cannot be made mandatory in France alone. The devices must be subject to European directives, or international regulations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).[17]

 

The equipment is still an optional feature with an estimate sales price ranging from €1,500 to €3,000. However, the market is now clearly nonexistent, including in the United States although the country has addressed the issue more extensively than European countries have. Actually, few drivers admit that the equipment could be useful, as they cannot even imagine that they might forget their child. Even if they become aware of the risk, according to car makers, a warning device would still be a hard sell; drivers now consider safety as a right that is implicitly included in vehicle purchase. Therefore, safety must not incur any additional expense.

 

Nevertheless, car makers say they are not opposed to studying how to adapt extant or simple warning systems that could act as ‘reminders’, such as the devices reminding drivers that the keys are in the ignition, that seat belts must be fastened, or that headlights are still on when the driver opens the door to leave the vehicle (see §2 below).

 

 

b.       Stand-alone Systems

 

 

On the other hand, several stand-alone warning systems (unconnected to the motor vehicle) against the risk of forgetting a child are manufactured and sold on the US market, or on the Internet. However, system sales are poor, confirming every product marketing study. Potential buyers think they would never forget a child - especially their own child - in a motor vehicle or anywhere else. The most common equipment is the following:

 

   .Simple ‘reminders’ to remind the driver that a child is on the backseat of the vehicle when he/she leaves: these are either physical lines between the driver and child, or tags attached to the key ring, too bulky to fit into a pocket. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Line connecting the child seat to the car key                                                   Tag on car key-ring

 

The first system is not recommended. The child may grab the line, wrap it around its neck and strangle; there is an aggravated risk in case of collision or sudden braking.

 

   .Warning devices with a weight and movement sensor, such as the Cars-N-Kids Car Seat that has a built-in sound device, which plays a lullaby when the child is in its car seat, when the vehicle comes to a full stop for more than five seconds and when the child unfastens its restraints or gets out of its seat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    .‘Distance’ sensor warning devices: a sensor is attached to the baby or booster seat. Several sophisticated models automatically detect whether the child is on the seat (weight sensor) and turn on automatically; others also warn of excessive ambient heat (temperature probe), whether the adult has moved away or not.  However, as a rule, users must deliberately turn on the devices every time they transport a child and keep them on. The adult carries a receiver emitting a signal when bearer moves beyond critical distance (3 to 5 meters) from the transmission base located near the child. Numerous patents and systems of this kind are marketed in the United States, including the one engineered by NASA in 2000 that never found an outside partner for mass marketing.

It is called the Child Presence Sensor  (http://videos.howstuffworks.com/nasa/2174-how-child-safety-sensors- work-video.htm).

 

                                                                            

 

  

 

 

 

 

Baby Minder: an emitting buckle                       Transmitter cushion placed under the

that is attached to the baby seat belt               child and a warning signal receiver

 

            .Drown prevention alarms belong to the same product category. They are also ‘distance’ alarms that usually operate as toddler supervision aides. Object (keys, phones, and ID) loss or theft prevention alarms can also be classed in the same group.

In this case, the receptor triggers the baby-forgotten alarm when bearer moves away from the transmitter.

 

   

 

 

 

 

       

  

 

Drown and distance prevention pool alarm     Distance prevention alarm        Object loss or anti-theft alarm

 

c.       Special Risk Prevention Devices

 

 

For children accidentally locked in vehicles fitted with super-lock mechanisms or dead bolt locks, car makers say that having to push the car remote twice to trigger the system is the primary safety step.

In the United States where super-lock doors are widespread, car makers suggest leaving a spare remote key in the trunk to prevent someone being entrapped in the car. They also offer the optional feature of door release buttons installed in hidden places on the car.

For children who are entrapped in car trunks, they also offer the optional feature of an inside trunk handle (Emergency trunk release handle).

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

  

 

Door release button installed in glove compartment                   Phosphorescent trunk release handle

 

 

 

 

 

Several devices and technologies analysing various car environment parameters, including biometric parameters, may provide appropriate solutions, or even warn the driver and third parties (camera assisted parking aide and distance sensor, hypovigilance warning based on pupil analysis and eyelid blinks, customised infrared sensor air-conditioning, emergency call in case of accident) already exist as standard or optional features on numerous motor vehicles sold on the European market. 

 

According to the consulted experts, five systems could be adapted and become prevention systems against the leaving of a child in a motor vehicle:

 

    - The Personal Car Communicator: installed on some VOLVO vehicles; the system operates with a pocketsize remote control. A heartbeat sensor is activated if there is an occupant in the passenger compartment. It is exclusively sold as a warning device against car intrusion. If the warning were automatic, it could conceivably warn of the presence of a child in the vehicle when the driver moves away.

 

    - Seatbelt sensors:  the system detects a passenger or driver whose belt is not buckled when the cars starts or is moving. Similarly, it could warn the driver that a seat belt is still buckled when he/she leaves the car and locks the doors. The device would operate with the child restraint systems (baby and booster seat) using seat belts. However, it would have to be connected to a weight sensor to forestall false alarms if the restraint system is installed permanently in the car. For systems with ISOFIX[18] fastenings, the child seat would have to be fitted with a seatbelt-buckled sensor.

 

   -  Image Recognition: several upscale cars are already fitted with cameras. Aimed outside, the cameras recognize speed limit signs and detect pedestrians in the path of the car. Thermal and/or semi-infrared imaging cameras aimed at the back seat and connected to an image recognition programme could detect a child and trigger an alarm if the driver leaves the car leaving the child behind. Other functions could be added to make the system cost-effective (adaptive deployment of airbags and seatbelt tighteners, headlight adjustment, and so on).

 

   -  Door Opening Sequence Analyser: this would detect a person on the backseat by analysing car door opening. Before taking the car, it is locked; the back door is opened to install a child and then closed. The driver’s door is opened and closed, and the driver starts the car. When the car stops, the engine is off and the driver’s door opened and closed, a sequence analyser would expect the back door to open. If the door has not been opened and car lock has been initiated, the system would assume that a person seated in the back may have been forgotten, and would alert the driver.[19] On two-door vehicles, the system could operate when a front seat is pushed down.

 

    -  Airbag Deactivation Warning: deactivating the airbags in the front of a car to install a child seat could trigger a warning if the driver leaves the vehicles and locks it without reactivating the airbags. The system would only work for the front seats.

 

 

 

 

 

The first limit is system acceptability. As it is complicated to make their installation mandatory, the systems could only be offered as optional features on motor vehicles. Regardless of performance, their purchase assumes that the responsible adult is aware of the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle.

 

Each different system has its limits. All the systems hardwired to a vehicle can only ensure the child’s safety if it is aboard a vehicle fitted with the systems, and not during occasional trips in a third-party’s car. Stand-alone systems have to be installed and turned on each time the child seat is moved from one vehicle to the next. Most systems have to be turned on deliberately when a child is aboard the vehicle. This operation may also be forgotten, thus rendering the device inoperative. Usually, the systems are only functional if the driver or one of the adult passengers is near or around the vehicle.

 

However, the asset of technical devices triggering parents’ attention should not be neglected, although no warning system can replace adults’ requisite vigilance in the event of an unpredictable lapse of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle requiring immediate response.

 

However, these aides must be used appropriately, i.e., they must not cause adults to feel less responsible, or relax their supervision due to a feeling of false safety. With or without alarms, some behavioural principles still stand. A child riding in a motor vehicle must be supervised at all times and be regularly given fluids. It should never be left alone in a motor vehicle, even for a short while. System activation and operations must be checked before each trip and regularly maintained.

 

Forgetfulness is still a complex phenomenon. According to some experts, forgetfulness forestalled by a warning system during car transportation may shift to other – equally dangerous – everyday actions, or may affect the child in other ways and circumstances (forgetting the child in the bath, at the shopping centre, or failing to switch on the warning system). Adults must pay attention to any signs of fatigue, stress, or minor memory lapses, which may cause tragedies. At the first sign of these symptoms, adults should immediately take the requisite measures (rest, reorganise daily tasks and use reminders). 

 

 

 

 

 

Whereas the data collected by the Commission shows that leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle, intentionally or unintentionally is not a rare event and, because of the incurred risks, warrants the enactment of measures to limit its occurrence;

 

Whereas, according to the information provided to the Commission, the next review of UNECE Regulation no. 44 in Geneva will make it mandatory to transport children in a ‘rear-facing position’ in appropriate child restraint systems until the age of eighteen months, which might aggravate the risk of forgetting young children in the back of the car;

 

Whereas, despite the fact they are not widespread in France, there is the danger of door super-lock mechanisms that make it impossible to open car doors and windows, even from the inside;

 

Whereas there is a lack of experimental and epidemiological data on the extent of child protection of children in the event of a road accident when the child seat is in front next to the driver;

 

Whereas the temperature inside motor vehicles parked in the sun rises quickly and young children are particularly vulnerable to the risk of hyperthermia, a risk aggravated by their confinement in a car seat;

 

Whereas informing adults and building their awareness of the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle and the dangers of leaving it unattended are essential prerequisites to any other legal or technical measure serving to limit the resulting accidents;

 

Whereas, for preventive purposes, leaving a child unattended in a vehicle intentionally should be distinguished from forgetting it in the car (both having admittedly the same consequences), but forgetting a child is typically random, unexpected and unpredictable;

 

Whereas third parties finding a child left unattended in a motor vehicle are currently reluctant to intervene due to their respect of property and privacy;

 

Whereas the psychological mechanisms underlying the action of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle are complex and there is no fully effective preventive technical solution to the problem;

 

Whereas technical warning devices meeting minimum safety requirements do exist and could help prevent adults’ lax attention when driving young children in their motor vehicles;

 

Whereas making the said devices mandatory in international automotive regulations is hard to do;

 

Whereas the devices will never dispense adults exerting their vigilance in all circumstances from being the primary guardians responsible for the safety of the children in their charge;

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

. Improve the knowledge of the cases of children forgotten, or left unattended in motor vehicles, and of the consequences of such actions, through ad hoc and periodic surveys of law enforcement and emergency services

    . Allocate resources for the funding of information campaigns addressed to future parents, parents, health professionals and childcare providers:

   - On the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle and on preventive measures

 

   - On the dangers of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle

 

    . Inform health professionals and childcare providers on the risk and danger of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle and on the need to build parents and future parents’ awareness of this issue

 

    . Encourage childcare providers and teachers to contact immediately the persons responsible for the child in case of an unexpected absence to find out the reasons for the absence

 

   .  Conduct tests and epidemiological studies detailing the extent of child protection in the event of a road accident when the child seat is in the front next to the driver

 

   . Include information on the temperature rise in motor vehicles parked in the sun and on the dangers to its occupants in the theoretical curricula for the driver’s licence test

 

 

 

 

 .  Study the possibility of fitting motor vehicles with technical warning devices against the risk of forgetting a child on the backseat

 

   . Warn future buyers and owners of a vehicle fitted with a door super-lock mechanism of the dangers of the device that, once triggered, makes it impossible to open the doors and windows by hand, including from inside the car

 

   .  Include information on the above-mentioned danger, the rise of temperature in motor vehicles parked in the sun and on the ensuing dangers for its occupants, in car user manuals

 

   .  Roll out or participate in information campaigns on the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle and on the danger of leaving it unattended

 

 

    

 

.  In coordination with car makers, include in their product range technical warning devices that could limit the risk of forgetting a young child in a vehicle

 

    .  Roll out or participate in information campaigns on the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle and on the danger of leaving it unattended

 

 

  

 

  .  Inform their members on temperatures inside motor vehicles parked in the sun and on the ensuing dangers for its occupants

 

    .  Roll out or participate in information campaigns on the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle and on the danger of leaving it unattended

 

 

   

 

    . Not leave a young child unattended in a stopped or parked motor vehicle, anywhere or in any circumstances

 

    .  Not underestimate the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle, and for the purpose of limiting the said risk:

 

 − Generally speaking:

 

   .  Pay attention to signs of fatigue, stress, or any ensuing minor lapses: the warning signs that should make them aware of the risks to themselves and to others; rest immediately and implement the required organisational measures to remedy the situation

 

   . After all their car trips, get into the habit of inspecting the entire passenger compartment, especially the backseats, before leaving the vehicle, day and night

 

   .  Ask that childcare providers or teachers contact them immediately once they realise that a child that should be in their care is absent

 

 − As a precautionary measure, when transporting a child occasionally or regularly:

 

   .  Put together personal ‘reminders’ to prevent them from forgetting a child on the backseat of the vehicle (place essential personal belongings next to the child, or place the child’s belongings next to the adult, programme a warning on one’s personal electronic equipment)

 

   .  Or acquire technical warning devices used as ‘reminders’, check that they are turned on and operating properly before any trip, and maintain them regularly

 

   .  Before purchasing or activating the devices, measure the risks inherent to using the door super-lock system on vehicles that may have them

 

 

  

 .  Immediately intervene when they find a young child left unattended in a motor vehicle and warn the authorities, the nearest security or emergency services 

 

 

 

   

 

. At the entrance to their car parks, install billboards urging drivers to check that they have not left anyone in their vehicle and reminding them of the risks due to a temperature rise in vehicles parked in the sun

 

   .   Have parking spaces making it safe and easy to install and remove young children from a motor vehicle

 

   .   Roll out or participate in information campaigns on the risk of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle and on the danger of leaving it unattended.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early afternoon one Tuesday, a man parked his car at the downtown car park in Pont-de-Chéruy (Isère). He left his two and half year-old son in the car.  Hours go by. At about 5 pm, a passer-by glanced in the window and saw a baby who seemed to be doing poorly. He called the emergency services that break the pane. Despite a cardiac massage, they could not resuscitate the baby. It died of dehydration. According to the firefighters, the temperature in the passenger compartment was over 40°C.

 

The father had parked the car at one of the car parks on rue de la République in Pont-de-Chéruy. He had gone to work at his pharmacy. “Visibly upset, the father told the emergency services that he had forgotten that he had left his son in the car,” stated the Public Prosecutor of Vienne.

 

At the hearing Wednesday afternoon, the father provided more ample explanation. “Before the ‘event’, he had witnessed a hit-and-run traffic accident. He had written down the hit-and-run licence plate number to give to the accident victim. These are the circumstances explaining why he had forgotten that his son was in the car,” explained Public Prosecutor Franck Rastoul. “He then went to work at (his) pharmacy.” According to the preliminary investigation, the father, who was supposed to drop the child off at relatives so they could mind him, was not used to driving with the child in the afternoon.

 

"I know him well. He’s a customer,” the owner of the bakery next to the pharmacy told the Post. “He was very kind.” “Everybody’s talking about it. Everybody has an opinion,” he added. “Some wonder why he left the child, others say that he’s separating from his wife. They couldn’t have children for a long time. They finally had one… What he really needs is our support.”

Sources: AFP, Le Post, Europe 1, RTL, Le Dauphiné Libéré and France 2

___________

This is the second tragedy to occur in a week. After a little 2 year-old boy died in Isère this July 15, a little three year-old girl called Zoé was forgotten by her father in his car in the sun. She died yesterday afternoon in Saint-Marcel (Saône-et-Loire).

 

For unknown reasons, the 38 year-old father, an AREVA executive who was on his way to work, left the child in his vehicle at his company car park in the blazing sun. When he returned to his car at about 3:30-4 pm, he didn’t immediately realize that his little girl was dead on the backseat. It was only when he went to retrieve his other child at day-care centre that he realized the tragedy. He rushed off to the firefighters, but it was too late.

 

The father (who is in custody) and the mother were hospitalised in a state of shock. There will be an autopsy today.

 

Lieutenant-Colonel Alain Diry of the Saône et Loire firefighters said that, “At about 5:30-5:45 pm, firefighters who were training at the  Saint-Marcel fire station saw a car drive into the station courtyard. Holding a child, a man - the child’s father -  got out of the car and rushed over. They performed every feasible emergency procedure with the equipment in vain, unfortunately. The child was probably already dead. The father collapsed and was taken with the mother to the Chalon-sur Saône hospital centre by the firefighters.”

Deputy Public Prosecutor Thierry Bas of Chalon-sur-Saône spoke about the preliminary investigation into the facts, “Like every other morning, the father put his children, a little 5 year-old boy and a little 3 year-old girl, into his car. He dropped off his son at the day nursery and forgot to leave his little girl at the childcare provider’s. He went to work, leaving his car at a sunny car park. At the end of his day’s work, at 4:30 pm, he got into his car and drove to the day nursery to retrieve his son. When he opened the door to put his son on the backseat, he saw that his daughter was doing poorly. He immediately drove to the fire station where the little girl could not be resuscitated. He was in such a state of shock that we couldn’t interrogate him.”

Jean-Michel Muller, a paediatrician and President of the Nice Côte d’Azur Paediatrician’s Association, believes that “It could happen to anyone because people are often very busy, they’re doing something. If you ask people to whom this has happened, they know that a child should not be left unattended, but they had other things on their mind, and what happened at that time was not deliberate.  It’s a tragedy. One knows that a child should not unsupervised at the poolside, but  even so, the door stays open. It’s carelessness. The stories with cars probably happened to people who were in trouble or who were very busy, they had something to do for several hours, and at the last minute they forget that they had left the child in the car.”

 

 

 

 

 

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