A communications engineer for Abu Dhabi Police builds a monitor with several 'life-saving' features to prevent hot-car deaths among infants - but safety experts warn of the drawbacks of technology replacing old-fashioned parental responsibility. ABU DHABI // It is a heartbreaking story every time. A parent parks and nips off on a quick errand, leaving a child alone in the car for what should be just a few minutes. Fate intervenes: the parent is held up, suffers a medical emergency, or is simply distracted. Meanwhile, out in the sun the car is turning into an oven. After 10 minutes the air inside the vehicle is approaching an unbreathable 80°C and puts the child in danger.
Such incidents have been known to happen even in more temperate climates, but the UAE's summer can make even a slight delay lethal - which is why a police employee has invented a device that he hopes could save lives. The gadget is linked to the car's child seats and sends reminders to the parent's mobile phone that their child - or children - is still alone in the car. The reminders gradually become more urgent until 11 minutes later the device sets off an alarm to tell anyone nearby that a child is in danger.
The first reminder is sent three minutes after the car door is shut. Three minutes later, the device automatically lowers the vehicle's rear windows by 5cm to let in some air. After eight minutes it switches on the air conditioning. If the parent has still not returned after another three minutes - a total of 11 minutes after he or she left the car - the gadget sets off a loud alarm. Osama Ismail, an Abu Dhabi Police communications engineer, said he came up with the idea after he saw and heard about more than a dozen incidents of children dying after being left alone in cars in the UAE.
Lt Col Mohammed al Neaimi, the deputy director of the force's emergency and public safety department, confirmed that his department had dealt with several cases of children dying in hot cars. "We take them seriously," he said. "We do the best we can to reduce the number to zero." Mr Ismail, a 42-year-old Syrian, said: "Because of the nature of my work, working with the police, I am more exposed to such accidents. I read about them, it triggers your interest in this field.
"A lot of people forget their children in the car and especially infants." Mr Ismail noted that some parents leave children in cars when, for example, they dash into a shop to make a quick purchase. "I heard the story of a woman with diabetes who went to get something for herself quickly from a mall and she fainted. "Paramedics took her to hospital but no one knew she had a child in her car. It was only when she gained consciousness that they knew the child was there. They found the baby dead."
He said he had heard about two such accidents in Abu Dhabi and another 12 in Dubai. Child safety experts gave the device a cautious welcome, emphasising that it should not be seen as a substitute for proper parental care. Dr Taisser Atrak, the chairman of paediatrics at Mafraq Hospital, said there was a danger the technology could send a "wrong message" to some parents, who might come to rely on it.
He said having the device was better than not having it, but "the best is for parents to take more care of their children and not leave them in the car". He added: "As a safety expert, my advice for parents is they should not leave their children in the car alone. "While grown-up people can endure sitting in the car without air-conditioning for a while, children cannot. "Temperature rises from 40°C to 70°C in less than 15 minutes. A child cannot survive all this time. They stop sweating after a short while."
Dr Alaa Shahin, a paediatrician at Al Baraha Hospital, called the invention "excellent" but also warned of the danger of depending on it. "We can avoid such accidents through knowledge and awareness. We have to look at it this way. "This is a country with very hot weather and this makes the car even more dangerous an environment. If parents leave their children in a car alone, they are not worthy to be parents."
The device was "definitely" good but, he said, the problem needed to be tackled at its roots - parental "indifference". Mr Ismail responded simply that his invention "can save lives". He said he had designed it to operate automatically, because "the disaster lies in forgetting in the first place". It is activated by switches underneath the child seat, which detect when the chair is occupied. He added that the device was designed so that each stage was independent of the others and would still work, even if an earlier stage malfunctioned.
"I wanted to make sure the gadget is not easy to break down because if it is damaged, it is a fatal damage - it is a soul inside the car. "This gadget cannot go functionless. If it does not ring, it is not a problem. "Each stage is independent from the other. And each stage can save the child, in its own right." Mr Ismail said many people with whom he had discussed his invention had asked to see a demonstration, and it had been shown at an international fair held in April in Hanover, Germany, where it was displayed along with other security systems used by Abu Dhabi Police.
Capt Mohammad Ehboush, of Abu Dhabi Police, who supervised the development of the invention, said a patent had been registered at the Ministry of Economy. "Obtaining a patent requires documents and procedures to make sure the invention is secure to use and is not faulty," Capt Ehboush said. "It is more than wonderful. A lot of fatal accidents took place after children were left in the car for some time.
"Recently, a man who was supposed to take his child to nursery forgot that his child was in the car and only realised after he finished work. He found his child dead in the car. "Such accidents happen and they happen everywhere." hhassan@thenational.ae
