Hot cars

As someone who works in the field of usability, one of the first things we remind ourselves of in any project is that we don't represent every person in the universe - that there are vast differences between people.

Personally, no. I don't believe I could be the mom who would forget her child. Can I understand how it can happen - possibly. Imagine something out of the routine (I'm making this up, since I don't know anything about the case you're referring to)  she forgot to drop the child off at daycare because he was so quiet. She was worried about the fact that her husband had just lost his job and distracted by the fact that she'd just gotten a notice about a registered letter and was worried about a lawsuit against her... So she drove on to work, got out of the car, didn't worry about her child (because she's used to him being in daycare) and went on with her day. It doesn't mean the mother didn't love or care about her child.

You are right that forgetting a child in a car is horrible and inexcusable.

Rachel

Hi,
Thre were recently several fatal cases that young children / babies were left in cars.  Terrible.  I would like to add several points to Rachel Inbar's  answer.
1.  It's not only the parents.... In many cases it's 
     the driver (e.g: of a transportation company).
2.  A journalist did last week the following experiment: 
     He closed himself in a car at a normal October day 
     (In Israel the temperature, even at October, can be 
     relatively high....  say 25C).  After about 40 minutes
     he had to stop it since he was closed to faint.  He 
     claims that the temperature can go up quickly to
     very high figures (If I remember well he quoted 
     80c !!! [some 175F]).
3.  I challenge the car manufacturers: Install an 
     electronic device that will give a strong signal
     when it detects "living" movements in the car. 
     That might save life and misery.
Best regards,

my god!!how horrible!!i don't see how it is possible that anybody could forget a baby in their car!!i wouldn't forget my dogs in a car,let alone a baby!!no matter how busy i was or how many problems i have,i would still remember my baby!!