New WAZE feature to prevent children being forgotten in cars
The GPS app has installed a new feature reminding drivers prior to arrival at destination of presence of children in the back of a vehicle; WAZE; 'We hope the feature will speak for your children who are unable to remind you themselves.' Parking app Pango also adds similar feature.
The new feature was created as a solution to the deadly phenomenon of children being forgotten by their parents in cars. Indeed, so serious has this become that this summer alone, several children in Israel have died as a result of the insufferable heat and lack of air in a locked vehicle.
The driver will be given an option to activate the function which will provide a reminder by way of a large notification appearing on the screen which cannot be ignored.
The notification will include a conspicuous message warning the driver not to forget the children or pets in the vehicles and can be adjusted according to the driver’s requirements and preferences.
“We hope that the new feature will be used as a reminder for you to take your children who are unable to speak and remind you themselves, when it is time to alight your vehicle,” a statement from WAZE said.
Another Israeli applications such as the parking-assistance app, Pango has also announced that it has integrated a banner into the homescreen to stop the occurence of this increasingly common phenomenon ofchildren accidentally being abandoned in cars.
The message on the application’s home screen appears next to a graphic of a baby: “Parents, turn around and make sure that you have not forgotten me in the car,” reads the reminder. The reminder appears once again after the user presses the button which activates the app’s parking meter.
In July, 1-year-old Hannah Feldman died after she was forgotten in a car in Beitar Elite in Gush Etzion. Her father discovered her after she had been stuck in the car for an hour and a half.
Two days before, a 4-year-old boy in Rahat was locked in a vehicle and taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva in serious condition. An initial police investigation revealed that his parents were visiting their family when he went outside to play and accidentally locked himself in the car.
In a seperate incident, a 9-month-old baby also died after she was forgotten in a vehicle in extremely hot temperatures.
Figures released by the organization 'Beterem - Safe Kids Israel' reveal that between 2008 and 2016, 400 such cases have taken place involving 449 children. Twenty-two of these incidents ended in at least one death. This summer, four children have died as a result of being left in a car.
