Warning on perils of kids left in cars

Children left in a car could easily get frightened or distressed or in summer become over-heated or dehydrated. Photo / Thinkstock

Whangarei's traffic wardens find two young children a week left in cars in the city while their parents are shopping.

It is a situation that child safety experts warn could be dangerous.

As well as the obvious safety risks, with the weather heating up as summer approaches, temperatures inside parked cars can skyrocket.

Whangarei District Council spokeswoman Ann Midson said the traffic wardens on average found two children a week left in vehicles in the central city while their parents or caregivers were shopping.

It was the same winter and summer.

She said the traffic wardens found children left in vehicles in Whangarei more often than they found dogs left in vehicles.

"Generally speaking the children left in cars are very young children or babies in their car seats," Ms Midson said.

"The vast majority of times the parents come back fairly quickly."

Ms Midson said if traffic wardens found a child left alone in a vehicle they would wait with the vehicle until the parent or caregiver returned.

But if the child was distressed or if the parent was away for more than about 10 minutes, they would call the police.

Police would then break into the vehicles and get the children out, if necessary.

Last week, a young mother left her baby in its carseat in her car while she went shopping.

The windows were down slightly and when a traffic warden saw the child, she stayed there for about five minutes until the woman returned.

The traffic warden tried to engage the woman to talk about the potential dangers of leaving a child alone in a vehicle, but the woman took the child from the carseat and walked off.

Child, Youth and Family northern regional director Grant Bennett said it was against the law to leave children under 14 without making reasonable provision for their care and supervision.

What is considered "reasonable" also takes into account the circumstances under which children are left alone and the length of time they are alone.

"In general babies and young children should never be left alone at home or in a car, or unsupervised," Mr Bennett said.

"Parents need to use their common sense and evaluate the situation if they need to do this for a very short period."

He said children left in a car could easily get frightened or distressed or in summer become over-heated or dehydrated.

Last year, a Whangarei mother was prosecuted after leaving her 10-month-old baby in the car while she played the pokies in a pub.

Loren Mae Healey, 21, was arrested after concerned passersby rang the police to say a distressed baby was in a car opposite the Grand Hotel in the central city.

- APN News & Media