With summer temperatures rising, parents are being reminded to take care to avoid accidentally locking children and pets inside the family car.
In the year ended November 30, the AA said it had been called out almost 1600 times to rescue children and pets from locked vehicles.
John Healy, AA roadservice national manager, said 914 of those callouts involved rescuing children and 660 involved pets.
Mr Healy said while these sorts of roadside emergencies were only a small fraction of AA's calls, the high number of them was very concerning.
"The temperature inside a vehicle with no ventilation can rise rapidly, and it doesn't take long before children and pets suffer the effects of heat exhaustion, with its potentially fatal consequences," he said.
He said the AA treated any calls involving children or pets locked inside a vehicle as an emergency, and if the situation was deemed to be serious, they also notified the Fire Service.
Mr Healy said while staff could usually get into the vehicle quickly, advances in vehicle technology meant an increasing number of modern cars had a deadlocking system. That meant the only way into the vehicle was by smashing one of the windows.
He said the best advice was to keep hold of the car keys. Babies and even pets have been known to inadvertently press the auto-lock button on the keys.
Warning on locking kids in cars
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.