By BRIDGET COOK
A MAN who was left dumbfounded after saving a toddler locked in a car in Cranbourne during Sunday’s extreme heat wants to drum into parents at just how dangerous such an action is.
As it remains clear that some people are still not getting the message, Dayle Graham wants to spread the message after what he witnessed this week.
During 2013, Ambulance Victoria paramedics were called to more than 75 cases of children locked in cars in Casey.
The Cranbourne postcode recording the highest number with 22, Narre Warren second with 18 and Berwick third with 17.
Mr Graham said he was left in shock after witnessing parents leave their daughter, aged about two years old, in the car at Thompson Parkway Shopping Centre.
“I was waiting for a lady to finish getting out of her car, so I could pull in beside them,” he said.
“I watched as they locked the doors and proceeded to walk away to the shops and then I finished parking my car.
“As I was getting out of my car, something caught my eye – there was a child strapped into a child seat.
“I was horrified at the situation because the temperature outside was so excessive at that time of the day being 4.30pm.
“With all the windows wound up tight, I knew of the dangers that the little girl was placed in.”
Mr Graham said he chased the parents into the centre and found them in a shop, where he urgently and with some anger told the parents of the danger their child was in and ordered them to go and retrieve her.
Mr Graham, who was commended from other shoppers, said he was more in shock that people were still not aware of the dangers.
“I can’t believe people still do this even with all the advertising of the dangers surrounding heat and children left in cars,” he said.
“When I hopped into my car to come up to the shops to begin with, I had to open the doors and wait a minute as I could not breathe from the heat inside my car.
“If people have trouble understanding the message in English, we might have to spell it out in their language.
“I don’t know what to say other than we have to be smarter, with all the dangers our kids face each day this one is avoidable.”
Ambulance Victoria group manager Brett Drummond said leaving children in a car could prove deadly.
“Tragically, there have been cases of children dying in hot cars in Victoria in recent years,” he said.
“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.
“It doesn’t have to be a scorching hot day for the car to quickly heat up.
“Tests by Ambulance Victoria found that even on a 29-degree day the inside of a car can reach 44 degrees within 10 minutes and hit 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.”
