July's hot car deaths totaled 11 children, making it the worst July since 2008 for hot car deaths.
A total of 29 children have died this year after being trapped in hot cars; the average per year is 37, USA Today reported. The highest number for any single month was July 1999, which saw 16 hot car deaths.
July usually sees the most deaths due to being left in a hot car compared to other months, according to Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services, USA Today reported. A total of at least 729 children have died of heatstroke in vehicles since 1998 in the U.S., Null said.
Last week, two children from Phoenix, Arizona, died from being left in hot cars within 24 hours of each other. Seven-month-old Zane Endress was left in a car in the northeast part of the city for four hours. The next day, 1-year-old Josiah Riggins was found in a car at a church parking lot after being left unattended.
Both deaths are under investigation but are believed to be accidental. The Phoenix area has about 10 hot car deaths of children each year, NBC News reported.
According to NoHeatStroke.org, the temperature inside a car can soar to 19 degrees above the outside air temperature in under 10 minutes on a hot day, and can reach nearly 30 degrees hotter in 20 minutes.
About 60 percent of hot car deaths result in charges to the caregiver, while the other 40 percent are judged purely accidental and are not charged, The Washington Post reported.
It was difficult for Twitter users to understand how a parent could forget a child in a car.
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