EFFORT AIMED AT OUTLAWING KIDS BEING LEFT IN CARS

An accident that left Michele Struttmann seriously injured and took the life of her 2-year-old son has prompted the Washington, Mo., woman to start a campaign against leaving children unattended in vehicles.

As part of her effort Struttmann is pushing for passage of legislation introduced by state Rep. Dennis Bonner, D-Independence, that would make it a crime in Missouri to leave a child unattended in a motor vehicle.

"I never left my child alone in the car," said Struttmann, founder of Kids 'N Cars. "But someone else did, and it took my son's life and injured me forever," she said in a telephone interview from her home.

In May 1998, Struttmann and her son Harrison were sitting in a park in Washington watching boats on the Missouri River. At the other end of the park two children, ages 2 and 3, were left alone in a running van and knocked the gear lever into drive. The van jumped a curb and struck Struttmann and her son. Harrison died at a hospital later that evening and Struttmann, after 11 surgeries, continues to struggle in recovering from her injuries.

Because there is no law in Missouri against leaving a child unattended in a vehicle, no charges were filed against the parents who left the children in that van, Struttmann said.

"Someone killed my son, yet no one told them they did anything wrong," Struttmann said. "It's not the children's fault. But we need to do something to let parents know how serious this is so it doesn't happen again."

Bonner agrees. For the second time he has introduced legislation in the Missouri House of Representatives to make it a crime to leave a child under 10 unattended in a vehicle. The measure, contained in HB 1146, would make leaving a child unattended in a vehicle a class C misdemeanor. It would be a class A misdemeanor if the child left unattended injuries himself or another person and a class C felony if the child is fatally injured or fatally injures another person.

Bonner said he introduced the legislation last year after his wife witnessed an accident in Independence in which three children were left in a van, put it in gear and it rolled across a store parking lot into a fence that kept the vehicle from plunging off an embankment onto Interstate 70.

The bill didn't pass last year, but Bonner is optimistic it will pass this session.

Bonner said the bill passed out of committee and is in a package with other bills. If it isn't voted on this week, Bonner said he will attach it to a Senate bill when the House begins voting on those next week.

"If it does pass, it will be the most comprehensive law of this type in the country," Bonner said.

Only 10 states have laws against leaving children unattended in vehicles, and Bonner said many of those are weak. But states are beginning to see the need for such laws, Struttmann said.

There are so many things that can happen when a child is left alone in a vehicle even for a short length of time, even when the parent remains in eyesight of the car, Struttmann said. Children are not only in danger of engaging the vehicle but subject to abduction, hypothermia, choking on a toy or heat exhaustion.

She gave the example of Jake Robel, a Kansas City toddler who was dragged to his death when a thief stole the car in which the child was left sitting unattended. His mother was never out of sight of the vehicle, yet couldn't stop that tragedy, Struttmann said.

Struttmann said her experience was not out of the ordinary.

"People called it a freak accident, but it wasn't," Struttmann said. She pointed out that as she began working on the Kids 'N Cars campaign she found that accidents such as hers happen regularly.

The Missouri Highway Patrol reported that from 1994 to 1998 there were 206 injuries and three deaths of children 15 and younger killed in accidents where the driver was under age 6.

"People won't leave their purse in their car, and they'll take out their cell phone, but they'll leave their children sitting in a car," Struttmann said.

She wants the law passed not as a way to punish parents but as a deterrent. People who ignore the safety issue of leaving a child unattended in a vehicle may be less likely to do so if they think they might be fined or jailed, Struttmann said.

Struttmann hopes her efforts keep others from suffering her own fate and that of her son.

"In three seconds my life was forever turned upside down," Struttmann said of the accident that began her nationwide crusade. "This is the only thing I can still do for my son."

Other examples of tragedies involving children left in cars unattended are listed on the Kids 'N Cars Web site at www.kidsncars.org

What can happen

According to Kids 'N Cars, an organization to make parents aware of the dangers of leaving children unattended in or around a vehicle, the following are examples of what has happened to children who were left unattended in automobiles:

* Heat stroke that led to permanent brain damage and death.

* Climbed out of a car seat and shifted the car into gear.

* Became ill from heat or car fumes.

* Abducted when someone broke into the car.

If the vehicle is running or the keys are in the ignition, the risks dramatically increase for:

* Carjacking (the car and children).

* Setting the vehicle in motion.

* Power control activation that can lead to strangulation and other loss of life and limb.