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Waze's New Safety Feature Reminds Drivers Not To Forget Their Child In the Car (go.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the bad-parenting dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: The navigation app Waze has released a new safety feature that reminds users not to forget their child, pet or other loved ones in the car before getting out. The feature, called "Child reminder," was made available to the public on Thursday, when Waze released its latest update on app stores for Android and iOS. The new feature comes amid concerns over recent child hot car deaths. Since 1998, there have been 37 child heatstroke fatalities on average per year in the U.S., according to the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University in California. Waze's Head of Brand, Julie Mossler said in a statement: "Just as drivers sometimes forget to turn off their headlights, they sometimes forget things in the car too. This new feature helps keep people present in the vehicle and gives them an important, possibly life-saving reminder, that drivers sometimes need." The "Child reminder" feature is opt-in and can be turned on and off in the app's "general settings." Mossler also said that drivers can customize the alert "to include their child's name or pet's name -- anything that will get their attention at the end of a drive." It will only disappear if a driver has entered a destination in Waze and has arrived at that destination.

76 comments

  1. I dont want to live in this world anymore... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I dont want to live in this world anymore...

    1. Re:I dont want to live in this world anymore... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well I never downloaded Waze before, and it's a foregone conclusion I won't now.

    2. Re:I dont want to live in this world anymore... by Bender+Unit+22 · · Score: 2

      there's an app for that.

  2. Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If you need reminded to get your child or pet out of the car, then you need your life license revoked...

    1. Re:Really??? by quenda · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes really. Ignore the ignorant judgemental AC.

      Plenty of good articles have been written on this awful subject. I doubt any of us here can do better.
      But start with Gene Weingarten's Pulitzer-Winning Feature, 'Fatal Distraction' from 2009:

      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      Two decades ago, this was relatively rare. But in the early 1990s, car-safety experts declared that passenger-side front airbags could kill children, and they recommended that child seats be moved to the back of the car; then, for even more safety for the very young, that the baby seats be pivoted to face the rear. If few foresaw the tragic consequence of the lessened visibility of the child . . . well, who can blame them? What kind of person forgets a baby?

      The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist....

    2. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You make me wish there was a +2 poignant.

    3. Re:Really??? by gweihir · · Score: 1

      If you advocate for people being killed just because they have trouble dealing with a complex world, well, I do not believe in the death-penalty (does not work), but a permanent stay at a mental institution seems to be about right for you.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    4. Re:Really??? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      I thought Pulitzer Prizes were only awarded as political statements? They mean "we agree with your political stances", just like the Nobel Prizes. How is this topic political?

      Ah, I see. Having read the article, it actually isn't about leaving kids in hot cars to die. It's actually about the evil, evil prosecutors who charge people with crimes after the deed. That's why it got the Pulitzer.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    5. Re:Really??? by quenda · · Score: 2

      just like the Nobel Prizes.

      Excuse me! That would be just the Nobel Peace and Literature prizes. The real Nobel prizes are awarded for science, not politics.
      Of course the science prizes are outdated. e.g. the era of individuals making breakthroughs in physics has gone.

    6. Re:Really??? by gweihir · · Score: 1

      That is a very interesting reference!

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    7. Re:Really??? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      Excuse me! That would be just the Nobel Peace and Literature prizes. The real Nobel prizes are awarded for science, not politics.

      I love it how folks around here love to create their own "perfect" definition of what constitutes a "real" Nobel prize.

      The "economics prize" is obviously out (for many folks here) -- since Mr. Nobel didn't create one, so obviously even if it's awarded by the same methods and the same body, it can't be a "real" Nobel. (Personally, I'm pretty skeptical of those folks claiming to have "real" "Harvard" degrees from the "Harvard medical school" -- John Harvard gave money to what was effectively a divinity school back then, so I don't trust those weird guys claiming to have "real" Harvard medical degrees. Would John Harvard approve of those quacks using his name??)

      And "literature" and "peace" -- I mean, come on.... obviously those aren't "real" Nobel prizes.... who would award a prize for that sort of BS?! [\sarcasm]

      How convenient -- the "real" Nobel prizes are restricted only to those named by some dead guy (why does he have the ability to define exactly what "science" is?), except when he created prizes we find inconvenient and "unscientific," in which case they aren't "real" Nobels.

      It's just a name... created by some random dead guy. It doesn't endow some mystical significance to winners that make them the greatest people or scientists or politicians or whatever ever. It's just a prize awarded by a committee. I'm not trying to downplay the winners of those prizes, but we also shouldn't try to shoehorn them into some weird pedestal of scientific perfection by ignoring those prize categories we wish weren't there. It's just a name attached to a prize.

    8. Re:Really??? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      But start with Gene Weingarten's Pulitzer-Winning Feature, 'Fatal Distraction' from 2009:

      I absolutely second this -- one of the most important articles I've ever read. I still remember when I happened upon it a few years back after reading a bunch of judgmental articles about such deaths.

      For people who think, "Who the heck could ever leave their kid in a hot car... what kind of parent could they possibly be???" You NEED to read this article. This could happen to many more caring parents than we might realize, given the right set of unusual circumstances. If you have kids or ever plan to have kids and don't think this could ever happen to you, read this and realize how such things do happen, and not just to drug-addled neglectful idiots.

    9. Re:Really??? by quenda · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Sorry I forgot to put quotes around "real" . Would that have conveyed an appropriate tone better?

    10. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think of it as a postpartum Darwin award.

    11. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you leave your kid in the car, you are drug-addled as far as I can tell. I don't care if it's legal SSRIs or legal meth (Adderol) or something else. Give them all postpartum Darwin awards.

    12. Re:Really??? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      If you leave your kid in the car, you are drug-addled as far as I can tell. I don't care if it's legal SSRIs or legal meth (Adderol) or something else. Give them all postpartum Darwin awards.

      Well, since it's clear you didn't take my advice to read the link, I sincerely hope you never have kids... or if you do, I wish them luck in avoiding this situation, which (again) can and has happened to all sorts of parents, including the most meticulous ones on the planet. The answer is some combination of awareness of situations where this sort of thing does happen to meticulous parents as well as additional safety features, but simply denying this could happen isn't going to prevent it from happening to you. Good luck.

    13. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think society will eventually have to relearn the value of darwin-cullings.

    14. Re:Really??? by xvan · · Score: 1

      My high school teacher once said that there was no Astronomy price, because of an an affair of Mrs Nobel (too lazy to Google if that was true, or if it was lack of empirical evidence on the subject)

    15. Re:Really??? by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      just like the Nobel Prizes.

      Excuse me! That would be just the Nobel Peace and Literature prizes. The real Nobel prizes are awarded for science, not politics.
      Of course the science prizes are outdated. e.g. the era of individuals making breakthroughs in physics has gone.

      Yeah the Nobel Prize('s) in the sciences go to the tenured professor that signed his name on the bottom of the paper researched and written by his undergraduates that only let him so they can get their results published in a journal that would otherwise ignore them.

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
    16. Re:Really??? by skam240 · · Score: 2

      So what? Pretty much every stupid way to die has be done by people in all sorts of catagories. Do we need a voice message on the cubard telling us not to eat that donut because it contributes to heart disease? Waaay more people die due to that then the 15 - 25 (according to your linked to article) kids who die due to being left in the car. In fact, there are thousands of things in this country that kill people of even just children at higher rates than this. Maybe we just need to mount speakers everywhere to nag us?

      Or maybe a nag speakers would just be ignored because they're nag speakers. No one reads signs, why would anyone listen to some repetitive message they hear every day?

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    17. Re:Really??? by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Got evidence, or repeating a meme?

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    18. Re:Really??? by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      For people who think, "Who the heck could ever leave their kid in a hot car... what kind of parent could they possibly be???" You NEED to read this article. This could happen to many more caring parents than we might realize, given the right set of unusual circumstances. If you have kids or ever plan to have kids and don't think this could ever happen to you, read this and realize how such things do happen, and not just to drug-addled neglectful idiots.

      Hell, think about less dangerous episodes of forgetfulness that happen with cars, too. Have you ever gone home, parked the car, and forgotten your shopping or other thing in the car? I've forgotten drinks in the cupholder.

      And plenty of people forget about stuff on the ROOF of their car - you know, they put their briefcase, or purse, or cup of coffee or whatever on the roof and rive off with it right there. You'd think with the stuff in the direct line of sight they'd remember, but no.

      In each and every one of these situations, it could've been a child - a child in the car instead of the shopping. A chid put aside so the seat can be cleared for the child seat. etc. etc. etc.

      The wrong distraction at the wrong moment is usually the cause. Or something unusual. Hell, there have been airplane accidents caused because the pilot got distracted and forgot important checklist items.

      Granted, no one dies if you leave your shopping in the car on a hot die (except maybe your wallet as you have to re-buy the perishables) but it's not a big leap to forget other things, including children and pets.

    19. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's repeating a meme from a bunch of grad students trying to count all the instances of hte letter "i" in Elizabethan poems, or doing meta-analysis of meta-analysis of meta-analysis of studies that "prove" micro-aggressions are the reason they can't get a job, students who will never get funded, much less tenure.

    20. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Similar to laws that require shops to charge for bags. Seems like a harmless idea to encourage people to bring their own bags and reduce litter. Until you consider that several people have died that wouldn't have if they received a clean bag from the grocery instead of contaminating their food with their dirty reusable bag.

    21. Re:Really??? by swillden · · Score: 1

      For people who think, "Who the heck could ever leave their kid in a hot car... what kind of parent could they possibly be???" You NEED to read this article. This could happen to many more caring parents than we might realize, given the right set of unusual circumstances.

      I did it once. My son didn't die because I remembered quickly. I had also locked my keys inside, so there ensued a few frantic minutes while I broke into my car (with the help of a nearby police officer). It's terrifyingly easy to do when something breaks your routine.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    22. Re:Really??? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      If you leave your kid in the car, you are drug-addled as far as I can tell.

      Nonsense. Plenty of people (including me) are just naturally absent minded. I never left my kid in the car, but I could have easily done so. To ensure that didn't happen, I took counter measures. When I buckled my kid into her carseat, I would put my cellphone, wallet, notebook, etc. on the floor in the backseat. When I reached my destination, I would get out of the car, walk a few meters, and reach for my phone to check the time, and suddenly be reminded that my daughter was asleep in her carseat. You may think that I am a terrible person, but that is what worked for me.

    23. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes really. Ignore the ignorant judgemental AC.

      Plenty of good articles have been written on this awful subject. I doubt any of us here can do better.
      But start with Gene Weingarten's Pulitzer-Winning Feature, 'Fatal Distraction' from 2009:

      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      Two decades ago, this was relatively rare. But in the early 1990s, car-safety experts declared that passenger-side front airbags could kill children, and they recommended that child seats be moved to the back of the car; then, for even more safety for the very young, that the baby seats be pivoted to face the rear. If few foresaw the tragic consequence of the lessened visibility of the child . . . well, who can blame them? What kind of person forgets a baby?

      The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist....

      So bad parents come from all walks of life. We already knew this.

    24. Re: Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always put my work laptop bag/ shopping bag/ etc, next to the baby in the back, just to be sure. No app required.

    25. Re:Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We did, but the quoted article makes a pretty good argument that it's not "bad parents" that end up doing this but rather "human parents".

    26. Re: Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's no joke, I once saved a screaming 2yo trapped in a car seat from a locked car in 100+ degree heat in Silicon Valley. Daddy was inside a restaurant having lunch with a woman who's reaction was the exact opposite of his panicked flight back to his car.

  3. What I would do: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After reading about those tragic deaths, I would use a chord to tie myself to the child's seat -- even when driving alone, just to make sure I don't lose the habit of checking if I forgot the light of my eyes.

    1. Re:What I would do: by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, the way to deal with things like this is pretty much established: You do checklists and you never, ever skip them. When they have become part of the routine, you can rule out basically all such accidents that can reasonably be predicted. Of course, this takes a high level of discipline and that is why this is enforced only in cases where a lot of damage could ensue, like pilots. It is basically impossible to explain the necessity to ordinary people (look at all the "could never happen to me" idiots here), because ordinary people do not understand the mechanisms and that it can happen to anybody. It can also not be imposed by force, because it is too intrusive for a free society to tolerate something like that.

      But if you want to prevent this happening to you, run trough a checklist that has "child" as one of the things on it whenever you lock your car. I used something like this because I kept forgetting my wallet or my work keys at home. After a few weeks it becomes a reflex which costs you a totally irrelevant 2-3 seconds each time and then the risk is mitigated.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re:What I would do: by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      This is how I keep track of my shit. I have a list I go through on the way out the door out of the car and when I get where I am going.
      Wallet
      Keys
      Cellphone
      Tablet
      Headphones
      Name Badge (when coming to / going from work)
      Backpack
      Jacket
      When I and the wife have a spawn it will be on the list until it is old enough to open car doors on its own.
      As for keeping pets in the vehicle only assholes bring their dog everywhere.
      \beginRant
      Having worked retail. The workers hate you if you bring your "precious" little shit factory inside. They bark and growl piss shit and and make nuisances of themselves. The only reason they don't tell you to take your dog out and not come back until you can figure out how to leave the thing at home is because corporations are afraid of the Americans with Disabilities Act biting them in the ass. Because they aren't allowed to ban service animals and even if they are unmarked. And customers will lie to claim they are service animals and lie to managers that will fire associates that ask or tell customers no non service animals allowed even when it is company policy.
      I remember one time I had a customer who repeatedly brought their non service animal in and it would try to attack other customers but managment wouldn't see anything out of fear even the company policy said no dogs allowed.
      \endRant

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
    3. Re:What I would do: by burbilog · · Score: 2

      Actually, the way to deal with things like this is pretty much established: You do checklists and you never, ever skip them.

      Checklists help, but many people are incapable of using them on regular basis. Period. Just like many people can't run marathon distances or lift 200kg weight.

      The only real solution is some kind of warm body detector connected to car's alarm system. Doors locked + body insde = alarm, always.

    4. Re:What I would do: by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      Maybe Americans need to learn how to treat their dogs.

      Here in Sweden, people take their dogs everywhere, even on the subway. Seldom if ever any problems.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    5. Re:What I would do: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only real solution is some kind of warm body detector connected to car's alarm system. Doors locked + body insde = alarm, always.

      And then it will always go off, because people take a nap in their car with the doors locked (while parked), or because the sun heats up the back seat to 100F and sets it off.

      A better system might be to put some device on the kid/pet that alters you when you get separated from it.
      This already exists for some smart watches and phones, so shouldn't be too hard. And it would prevent you to leave your kid/pet in other places too.

    6. Re:What I would do: by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Well, yes and no. One problem with such a sensor is that if it fails (and technology does fail), the manufacturer would suffer huge losses. That is apparently a key reason why there are no such sensors these days. The litigation culture of the US has shot itself in the foot here massively. Hence it must be something that the parent does and that requires discipline.

       

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    7. Re:What I would do: by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Well, a networked health-tracker on the kid would be a good idea, but it would need to come with a) immunity of the manufacturer from litigation when it fails as long as it was a reasonably reliable product (which will be hard to sell to a lot of people, but it is the reality in litigation-nation and technology cannot be perfect) and b) be provided for free. In Europe, this could for example be something the health insurance provides to parents as a loan until the kids are old enough to fend for themselves in such a situation. Still, it would need to be the parents that make sure it is on the kid and there are privacy implications and risks from hacking. Despite that, I do believe it will eventually be the solution to problems like this.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    8. Re:What I would do: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elaborating on my idea, there's already an elastic chord or luggage rope being sold for motorcycle people, useful to tie package and other objects. They have hooks at the extremities, but one should use those keyholder-type hooks where you can make sure things stay hooked.

      Just leave the car and one such rope with pull you back towards the toddler's seat (don't tie it to the toddler, obviously). Also, make sure it goes through a way and is kept stretched so that the child cannot grab it and hurt itself. Hmm, perhaps tying yourself to any fixture in the back seat would work to the same effect...

      BTW, I have a little OCD and I find it helps in certain situations, like coming back to check if the car's door is locked and finding forgotten things (like a cellphone).

    9. Re:What I would do: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes you are traveling a long distance with an animal and you have no choice but to bring the dog inside with you, because you can't leave the dog in the car.

      Its nice that a few locations let you bring the dog inside. If you must travel long distance, alone, with a pet, plot out places like pet stores or hardware stores, most will let you bring any dog inside in order for you to use the restroom,etc. Find drivethroughs for food.

  4. Retrain yourself by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

    Just like it's a Good Idea to check the back seat before you get into your car, it's a good idea to check the back before before you get out.

    Oh, and maybe turn off the goddamned phone once in a while so you're less distracted.

    1. Re:Retrain yourself by naughtynaughty · · Score: 1

      Turn off the phone that is running Waze and getting me to my destination?

    2. Re:Retrain yourself by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

      turn off the goddamned phone once in a while

      Might miss a Pokemon.

      That's odd. It says that there's on in the back seat of my car.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    3. Re:Retrain yourself by quenda · · Score: 1

      Actually, if you are actually running Waze or other navigation, the phone will already be alerting you that you missed the turn-off to day-care and are on auto-pilot to the office. That seems to be the most common way for babies to be forgotten. Stressing over work, your wife/husband asks you to drop the baby off at the last minute - its not part of your normal routine.
            I can understand it. It happened near here 3 years ago: the dad went to pickup baby from daycare after work, was told the baby had not been dropped off. The horror of realisation, running back to the car, and finding the baby who had been in there all day.

      http://www.theaustralian.com.a...

    4. Re:Retrain yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like it's a Good Idea to check the back seat before you get into your car, it's a good idea to check the back before before you get out.

      Oh, and maybe turn off the goddamned phone once in a while so you're less distracted.

      I for one do not believe the parents involve in these children in hot cars incidents simply forgot they had their children with them while leaving the car.

      These idiots intentionally left their children, expecting to be back soon. Then they forgot.

      Unless the App constantly nags them about their children, this is pretty useless.

    5. Re:Retrain yourself by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Yup. I'd wager it's about 50/50 between knowingly leaving the kid in there but intending to be back soon and leaving the kid there intending to kill it. The people who actually forget the kid is in the car when they themselves leave the car represent a rounding error.

    6. Re:Retrain yourself by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yup. I'd wager it's about 50/50 between knowingly leaving the kid in there but intending to be back soon and leaving the kid there intending to kill it. The people who actually forget the kid is in the car when they themselves leave the car represent a rounding error.

      If this were true, you'd expect statistics to be relatively constant over the past few decades. Instead, there was a sudden uptick in deaths per year beginning right when car seats were required (1998) to be placed in the back seat to avoid the required dual airbags now always present in cars. Analysis of stats suggests that the majority of these deaths are attributed to "accidents," and mostly by people who thought they already had dropped the kid off somewhere else (and thus didn't go check), rather than those "intending to be back soon."

    7. Re:Retrain yourself by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Informative

      > I for one do not believe the parents involve in these children in hot cars incidents simply forgot they had their children with them while leaving the car.

      I can attest that it's happened to me. Not on a blistering hot day, but on a cool one when I was quite tired and the child I was baby sitting for fell asleep. The child was comfortable and reasonably safe, but on a very hot day it could have been tragic. Small children also often nap on car rides, and many parents with small children are chronically sleep deprived. So accidents are unsurprising.

  5. What kind of fucking idiot forgets their kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are they completely drunk or something? That's disgusting.

    1. Re:What kind of fucking idiot forgets their kid by turkeydance · · Score: 1

      yes. twins no less. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS...

    2. Re:What kind of fucking idiot forgets their kid by PPH · · Score: 1

      Imagine the explaining you'd have to do if you forgot just one.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    3. Re:What kind of fucking idiot forgets their kid by gweihir · · Score: 0

      It is called an "accident" and it can happen. Especially as many people are so much into sensory overload these days that they have trouble distinguishing "important" from "not important". Think people that manage to hurt themselves when walking/driving while focusing on their phones and the like.

      It has nothing to do with "disgusting" or being an idiot. It is an effect of more and more people not having the mental equipment to deal competently with a complex world. Adding one more complexity (these "warnings") is just making the problem worse.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    4. Re:What kind of fucking idiot forgets their kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Twas going to say the same. What kind of fucking idiot, inbred, loser, moron forgets their kid?

    5. Re:What kind of fucking idiot forgets their kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kill them off. They are not fit to survive. They leave their offspring in the car to die. Let the bloodline die there.

    6. Re:What kind of fucking idiot forgets their kid by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Well, maybe you should give others a good example and start with yourself?

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  6. Serious violation of reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cooking your kids because you 'forgot' is NOT like forgetting to turn your light off.
    It's more like a sad situation of parental negligence.

    An app to help prevent this violates the concept of natural selection.
    Why did anybody think there could be a place for such a thing.
    Despite what PC tells us, it's not a kinder, gentler world. Technology only makes it seems so.
    As cruel as the alternative is, is it a good idea to go out of our way to select for folks that need this?

    1. Re:Serious violation of reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An app to help prevent this violates the concept of natural selection.

      Natural selection is not a "concept". It is a real phenonenon that operates regardless of whether you think the "concept" has been violated or not. If somebody uses an app to improve reproductive success, that's a win as far as natural selection is concerned.

      Natural selection makes a winner of the one who passes on the genes. With or without help. Adapt and use your environment, or don't; take the help or don't. Help out or don't. See how you fare.

      Natural selection doesn't care about your values. Natural selection doesn't care who you think is a good person, and it doesn't give a fuck about your concept of negligence. Natural selection doesn't even care about your concept of "natural"; it deals in what is, and the artificial is natural to it. Natural selection doesn't care what you think is intelligent, and doesn't give a fuck if an organism is "smart" or not. The number of bacteria sharing your mom's basement with you is greater than the number of intelligent people who have ever lived.

      Natural selection isn't predictable. It's random and situational, and it's not required to meet our expectations.

      For instance, without prior experience, I would have thought that, even in the social environment of a bunch of overgrown prestige-obsessed monkeys, a genuine comprehension of how your species actually worked would have been more of a survival trait than idiotic just-world "can't happen to me; that only happens to idiots" thinking. I would have thought that understanding how human attention works would be helpful to a human. I would have thought that having some real concept of how you and others around you might commonly fail would be useful. Especially when certain types of failures are objectively the norm, even among people who kid themselves they can't fail that way.

      But you're here, and so are a bunch of morons like you, so natural selection seems to be saying otherwise. Apparently a feeling of invulnerable superiority is reproductively valuable enough to compensate for a crappy understanding of objective reality. At least for here, and at least for now. I can always hope.

  7. Idiocracy Is Coming by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

    Thanks in large part to idiots trying to prevent other idiots from removing themselves from the genepool.

  8. "Please do not forget you baggage"... by gweihir · · Score: 1

    Only it is meant metaphorically now. So this at least gave me a laugh.

    Of course it is completely useless, as somebody distracted enough to to leave a small child in a car in hot weather will also ignore such a warning. Accidents do happen, and for some people attention to critical detail is something that has to be drilled into them as they are always distracted. Of course, such drills cannot be enforced without going full-authoritarian. Punishment after the fact is not going to help one bit either (but will make things worse).

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  9. Heat alarm on car seats by kervin · · Score: 1

    I'd like to see a high-heat alarm that's armed when the car sit buckles are fastened. Bonus if it can connect to the car's alarm.

    Yes, yes it shouldn't be needed. It it may be help save a few lives if parents care to use it.

    1. Re:Heat alarm on car seats by Rolgar · · Score: 1

      Won't work. Newer cars have the LATCH system, in which case the seat belt isn't used when a child is secured in a car seat (not a booster). If the regular car seat is buckled in order to secure the infant seat, it's always buckled except on a rare day when you need to remove the seat (I only do this about 2 times a year) and would always trigger the alarm above the trigger temperature.

  10. Wrong news outlet!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is /. not "Lifehacker."

    Take this bullshit somewhere the fuck else.

    I've boycotted Lifehacker, and I'll do the same for this site too!

    1. Re:Wrong news outlet!! by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Please do. We don't need your whining.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    2. Re:Wrong news outlet!! by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      What, you're still here?

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  11. after I forgot the kid ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    after I forgot my kid, I forgot where I parked!!!

    can Waze help me get back to my car in time?

    or maybe I'll make a social mobile flash gamification app for this.

    1. Re:after I forgot the kid ... by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 1

      or maybe I'll make a social mobile flash gamification app for this.

      I dont think you understand what those words mean, grandpa.

      Anyway, you just use Google Now to do this. No social, no flash, no gamification, no buzzword bingo. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how...

  12. are. you. fucking. kidding. me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If. you. need. an. app. to. fucking. remind. you. who/what. is. in. the. car. with. you. then. you. have. no. business. operating. anything. more. than. a. pair. of scissors. while. you. run. you. stupid. fucking. reason. not. to. breed. asshole.

    1. Re:are. you. fucking. kidding. me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ALL modern app appers know that only Darwin-defeating apps can app apps! Only LUDDITES subject themselves to natural selection!

    2. Re:are. you. fucking. kidding. me? by Hizonner · · Score: 1

      There's a word for an organism that voluntarily "subjects itself" to natural selection.

      That word is "cull".

      Because natural selection, unlike ITGs, is actually tough. It does not give a fuck about your desire to feel superior. It does not give points for your delusions of infallibility. It does not play fair and it does not care if you do. It only cares about success.

      If you pass up an easy way to assure success, natural selection will be completely happy to kill you.

      You live in its world. It does not live in yours.

  13. Has anyone done the math? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm gonna give the US a population of 350 Million for these purposes, close enough right?
    An average of 37 deaths per year in a population of 350Million is ~0.0000105714% of the population
    Accidental drownings in the US (average of 2005-2014, 3,536) are ~0.00101028571% of the population
    Gun Deaths (11,208 in 2013) ~ 0.00320228571% (not necessarily homicide btw)
    Vehicular Deaths (32675 in 2014) ~ 0.00933571428%

    Sure these are quick google searches and basic math.
    But where should the attention and effort be?

    Many of these deaths are tragedies, especially the 'I left my kid in the car by accident' type, but, come on.
    In the global scheme of things, it is a nothing event. As a business decision, I get it as a 'See, we are great corporate citizens, protecting your children (while we monetize your information, but don't look behind the curtain).
    But as public policy? Much bigger fish to fry.

    1. Re:Has anyone done the math? by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      public policy is mostly about placating society's irrational fears, not going after the logical choice.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  14. Your Left Shoe by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Step 1, remove left shoe. You won't be using it because bimbo boxes are automatic

    Step 2, put left shoe in back seat next to child

    Done and done

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  15. Missing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The point of this new "reminder" is to tell Waze that you drive with kids in the car. Advertising to people with young children is VERY different from advertising to the rest of the world. With kids in the car, you want ads that focus on "drive through" and kids meals.

  16. Ironic Distraction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't the phone itself one of the distractions that make this issue more frequent?

  17. Another wanted feature for cars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would love power muzzles and straightjackets built into the back seats,s0 when the tykes act up, I can push a button, and suddenly the car goes quiet, with the little brats as immobile as a statue. Infact, this should be something that auto-activates when the noise and/or movement level goes beyond a certain threshold.