The unconventional oven by Matt Moran
Every year across Australia, more than 5,000 kids are left unattended in cars. To prove just how hot the sun makes a parked car, renowned chef Matt Moran literally cooked a meal in one. (Video supplied by Kidsafe Australia)
Twin 15-month-old girls from Carrollton, Texas, became the 25th and 26th children in the US to die this year after being trapped in a hot car.
That's two more than all the hot-car deaths last year, according to organisations that track such cases.
The previous hot-car incidents have been just as heart-wrenching as the events that lead to the deaths of Ariel Roxanne North and Alaynah Maryanne North.
Just last month, for example, two-year-old Boi Lei Sang died in a church parking lot in Dallas while his parents attended worship services. When he couldn't find his son in Bible class, the child's father bolted out of the church and found the toddler unresponsive and overheated in the family SUV.
Boi Lei was one of four children to die in a single four-day span last month, with the other deaths occurring in Florida, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.
On average, 37 children a year die from heat-related deaths inside cars in the US. And last year's total of 24 was the lowest in any single year since 1997.
Jan Null, of the meteorology and climate science department at San Jose State University in California, says last year's decline could have been caused by the nationwide publicity about the 2014 Ross Harris hot-car murder case in Cobb County.
Harris is accused of deliberately leaving his 22-month-old son, Cooper, to die in his family's sweltering SUV in 2014. His' trial begins on September 12.
"There was so much attention across the nation on the Harris case I believe it raised public awareness," said Null, who closely tracks hot-car deaths.
He said, however, that the trend of three dozen deaths annually has returned this year.
"For the first week of August, with 26 so far, we're right at about average," Null said. "Sadly, we'll probably see another half-dozen deaths this year, if not more."
The Carrollton twins' father, Asa North, is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct, and police say alcohol played a role in the tragedy.
Nationwide, some hot-car cases are prosecuted as crimes and some are not.
"It's just all over the map," said Janette Fennell, who heads KidsAndCars.org, a child safety nonprofit. Fennell's group tracked 406 hot-car deaths nationwide through 2015 and found that authorities did not bring charges 40 per cent of the time.
Some recent cases illustrate the trend.
New York police officer Mark Fanfarillo was not charged after he forgot to drop off his 4-month-old son, Michael, at day care in June. His baby died in the family car in the driveway.
In a statement, the local district attorney's office noted Fanfarillo was rarely tasked to drop Michael off at day care. "A lapse or loss in memory is insufficient proof to satisfy the legal requirement of failing to perceive a risk - something more is required," it said.
In March, two children died in hot cars in different parts of Mississippi.
In Grenada County, Joshua Lewis Blunt was charged with second-degree murder for leaving his 8-month-old daughter in the car. Eight days earlier, Amy Bryant left her 2-year-old daughter Caroline in her car in Madison County.
Bryand is facing a possible manslaughter charge when her case is presented to the grand jury later this month, District Attorney Michael Guest said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution