By Riley Walter
When news broke on Tuesday evening that a one-year-old girl had died after being left for hours in a car, the first question asked was: How?
Police are investigating but believe the girl’s father was collecting his daughter, who the Herald has chosen not to identify, from a daycare centre when he discovered he had accidentally left her in the vehicle.
Police believe a one-year-old girl died after being accidentally left in a car on Tuesday. The Herald has chosen not to identify the girl.
NSW Police Superintendent Christine McDonald, describing the death as an “absolute tragedy”, said “so many of us can put ourselves in a similar situation”.
But others, still, are struggling to understand how such a thing could happen. A little-known condition may provide an explanation.
Small distractions prove fatal
Sometimes referred to in the United States as “forgotten baby syndrome”, fatal distraction occurs when a parent or carer accidentally and unknowingly leaves a child unattended in a car, Professor Matthew Mundy said.
Professor Matthew Mundy said parents should make a habit of checking the back seat before leaving the car.
Mundy, a human learning and memory expert at Torrens University Australia, said short-term memory could be affected by factors such as poor sleep, stress, illness, exhaustion or distraction.
“If we’re affected by these factors, as many parents, of course, are, the likelihood of a memory failure is higher,” Mundy said.
“If we’re distracted while enacting a routine we may miss a step, or fail to make a change and carry on without conscious knowledge of the error.
“Perhaps a normal routine on some days is to drive to daycare, drop off and then drive to work. On others, it may be to drive directly to work. If distraction occurs at the decision point, perhaps turning left rather than right, we end up in the wrong habit and with no knowledge of the error.”
Tragic, but unintentional
Kidsafe NSW executive officer Christine Erskine said it was important to note that while tragic, incidents like the one-year-old’s death were not deliberate.
“We have to acknowledge that parents, drivers, carers don’t do this intentionally,” Erskine said.
Neither of the girl’s parents have been arrested or charged and are assisting police with inquiries.
In 2023, a three-year-old boy died after being left unattended in a car in Glenfield for more than six hours. When his father made the discovery, he told witnesses, “I just forgot”.
Sometimes referred to in the United States as “forgotten baby syndrome”, fatal distraction occurs when a parent or carer accidentally and unknowingly leaves a child unattended in a car.
Mundy said while data on the prevalence of fatal distraction was limited, Kidsafe research suggested there had been 10 deaths that could be attributable to the condition between 2019 and 2023.
Reminders and awareness to avoid tragedy
Erskine said that while some modern cars had technology that could alert a parent or carer that a child had been left in the car, many commonly driven models didn’t.
Mundy said legislation that mandated such sensors and alarms in cars in Australia would be the most effective prevention.
In the interim, though, Mundy and Erskine recommend parents place items such as a wallet, bag or phone on the back seat near their child as a prompt or reminder to take the child out of the car. Likewise, parents could place a child’s item such as a doll or backpack near them in the front of the car.
Mundy said parents should make a habit of checking the back seat before leaving the car.
“This can happen to absolutely anyone and parents must be made aware of this,” Mundy said.
“Human memory is fallible and none of us are immune.”
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