Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Dangers: Hot Cars and Loose Pets

With the stifling heat coming our way....this is an extremely important topic. This is information from the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Hot Cars and Loose Pets
(No, it's not the name of the latest tell-all tabloid bestseller. We're talking about seriously risky situations that happen every day, but are entirely preventable.)
Brutus, Duke, Coco, Lola and Jake...sure, they're fairly common pet names, but they're also the names of just a few of the pets that died last year because they were left in cars on warm (and not necessarily hot) days while their owners were shopping, visiting friends or family, or running errands. What's so tragic is that these beloved pets were simply the victims of bad judgment.

Want numbers? An independent study1 showed that the interior temperature of vehicles parked in outside temperatures ranging from 72 to 96° F rose steadily as time increased. And cracking the windows doesn't help.
Elapsed time Temperature rise inside vehicle
10 minutes 19°F
20 minutes 29°F
30 minutes 34°F
60 minutes 43°F
1 to 2 hours 45-50°F
Click here to view an animated video of the temperature rise in a car over time.
(Courtesy ggweather.com/heat)
...add to that the fact that most pets are not properly restrained while in the car, and you've got some dangerous situations – for people and pets alike. Unrestrained pets can be seriously or fatally injured, or could even hurt you, in a collision or sudden braking situation. In addition, they're a distraction for the driver, which increases the risk of driver errors. According to a 2010 American Automobile Association (AAA) survey, 2 out of 3 owners engage in distracting behaviors (playing with, feeding or petting their dog, or letting their dog sit in their lap) when pets are in the car...and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 20% of injury crashes involve distracted driving.

Please don't become another statistic: only take your pets in the vehicle with you when you absolutely need to, and always properly restrain your pets while in the vehicle.

4 comments:

  1. I'd never leave my dog in the car for a couple of reasons. One, I'm not cruel. Two, I don't want any scratches, bite marks, or excretions to ruin what I spent so much on.

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  2. Thank you for the informative facts!!! I really love my dog and can't live without him even for a single minute... so leaving him alone is impossible for me!

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  3. Thank you for the quality post,,, quite impressive and informative!

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  4. For clarification, this author is neither pro- or anti-finance when buying a car. What you must be wary of, however, are the full implications of financing a car - not just when you buy the car, but over the full term of the finance and even afterwards. Cash For Cars Melbourne

    ReplyDelete