Warning to parents after dramatic spike in kids trapped in cars

Queensland road service crews were forced to rescue 16 kids trapped in cars in one day during a huge spike in entrapments at the start of this month.

In the first 12 days of October, RACQ workers were called to help frantic parents get babies or young kids out of their cars more than 75 times.

That figure, more than twice the normal daily average, sparked urgent warnings from the peak motoring body for parents to be aware of the dangers of leaving children in cars unsupervised.

RACQ is calling on parents to remain calm and call for help immediately if they're baby gets locked in the car. Photo: Supplied

On a 30-degree day it takes just seven minutes for a closed car to reach 40 degrees, RACQ tests show.

RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie said leaving the window cracked or parking in the shade only made a small and insignificant difference.

"Being exposed to such high temperatures in a car can kill or lead to severe injury for young children in a relatively short time," she said.

The RACQ is warning parents not to give their children the keys to play with while waiting in the car. Photo: Supplied

RACQ road service delivery team manager Simon McClelland said the increase was worrying on two fronts.

"It puts more pressure on our patrols. It's one of the worst jobs as a patrol that you can get is getting that baby locked in car," he said.

"It gets the heart beating and you start thinking about what you're going to go to and then (it's) certainly not good for the adult… that's on the outside of the car.

An RACQ road service crew worker opens a locked car. Photo: Supplied

"The child's on the inside and crying and upset, then that's not very good either."

Ms Richie said the surprisingly common entrapments occurred for a number of reasons, usually due to no fault of the parent.

"It's not people going and intentionally going shopping or leaving their kid in the car. The majority of them have been accidental," she said.

"A lot of them are because parents or grandparents give their keys to the kids to play with and in this day and age it's very easy to just blip the button with a little tiny thumb and they're locked in.

"Another way is because the new car technology is so great at keeping thieves out, it also means they've great technology to automatically lock the car."

Neither Ms Richie nor Mr McClelland knew what had sparked the increase in entrapments, which had not led to any deaths.

The RACQ called on parents to keep their keys in their pockets and never leave their children unattended in cars.

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