This wasn’t a freak accident: baby Olivia’s death was a known risk

"The tragedy was predictable and preventable. Why on earth are we not doing more about it as a society?"

When Baby Olivia died this week after being left in a car for several hours, it wasn't an Act of God, or Mother Nature, or even a 'freak accident '.

 

The one-year old died as a direct consequence of a major issue that is largely predictable and preventable.

One that happens commonly, and around the world.

So why on earth are we not doing more about it? 

Why aren't we doing more to save vulnerable babies' lives, and spare parents from what surely must be one of the worst ways to lose a child - because it's connected to your own act of omission?

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RELATED: ‘Please stop! You forgot your baby in the car!’

Fatal Distraction and Forgotten Baby Syndrome

In 2002, American dad Todd Costello lost his baby son, Tyler, when he forgot the 9-month-old in the back of his car in his office parking lot.

In a 2009, The Washington Postpublished an article called, "Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?"

"An otherwise loving and attentive parent one day gets busy, or distracted, or upset, or confused by a change in his or her daily routine, and just... forgets a child is in the car.

"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."

It can happen to anyone. You. Me. It seems to have happened to Baby Olivia's decicated, loving dad.

Image: NewsCorp

 David Diamond, a professor and memory expert, told The Post: 

"The important factors that keep showing up involve a combination of stress, emotion, lack of sleep and change in routine, where the [brain] is trying to do what it’s supposed to do, and the conscious mind is too weakened to resist.

"What happens is that the memory circuits...  literally gets overwritten, like with a computer program. Unless the memory circuit is rebooted -- such as if the child cries, or, you know, if the wife mentions the child in the back - it can entirely disappear."

Playing a major part in these accidents is also 'Forgotten Baby Syndrome', which explains the 'The Swiss Cheese model'; how a string of human errors can explain why they ultimately lead to a death.

These factors are only just slowly becoming common knowledge in society. Looking at the social media response to Baby Olivia's death, too many are still asking, "How can you do this to your baby?"

Arikh Hasan, three, pictured with older brother, his mother Marzia and father Newaz. The toddler died when his father forgot to take him to daycare in 2023. Image: Facebook

RELATED:I cried when I read about the boy left in the car... because I've done it too

If we know about it, why aren't we doing more?

We need to be screaming this risk as loud as we can, especially in an Australian summer.

Sure, car manufacturers have long been tweaking ideas of sensors and alarms that signal 'something' has been left in the car.

Even TikTok is full of 'hacks' to help you remember your child is present.

But as the number of fatalities continue to grow, it's clear we need to do more - and immediately.

The first thing is to recognise that parents/carers need support; it is a problem for the whole community.

Let's start with processes that are not already automated (when there's no proper reason why they shouldn't be): notifications to parents that a child has not arrived after being enrolled. Often this doesn't happen, or it only really begins (in my experience) in high school, where truancy is the concern.

It's obvious we need education of carers about absence being a red flag and a situation where personal initiative is needed.

Greater awareness in the community that this problem is real, not the result of a negligent parent, and a responsibility that's on all of us. It should be a habit for drop off to be confirmed with a third party (partner, grandparent, daycare).

We need to normalise the sharing of this information as a standard act.

From newborn baby booklets to parenting classes, signs in car parks asking, "Have you got your valuables?", we need to make it clear that forgetting a baby in a car is much of a risk as SIDS, for example.

Do we even go so far as to make it mandatory to have "baby on board" signs on cars until a certain age? Encouraging us to then peer into vehicle as we walk past it?

I'm not sure, but I do know we need a public health campaign as we've had in Australia for issues such as smoking, gambling and safe sex. 

Without real action, we will keep losing babies in cars.

The aim should be that checking for your child in the backseat will become as second nature as putting on your seatbelt; an ingrained habit that will be done no matter your state of mind.

Originally published as This wasn’t a freak accident: baby Olivia’s death was a known risk