Member for Logan Linus Power and local woman Mandy Petrie conducted an experiment on Thursday in Browns Plains aimed at educating the public about the dangers of leaving children and animals in locked hot cars.
The pair placed a temperature gauge inside the MP’s vehicle at 3pm to show how quickly vehicles heat up in the Australian sun.
The outside temperature at the time was 32 degrees Celsius and in less than 15 minutes the gauge read 53.3 degrees Celsius inside the vehicle, on a day when a nice cool breeze was providing some relief from the Queensland heat.
Ms Petrie was inspired to start her awareness campaign on Facebook called Cars are not Carers and garner Mr Power’s support after she helped rescue a baby who was locked in a hot car.
“It was actually asleep but it was very hot and it was very sweaty,” she said.
“You hear about but when you see it and see a baby asleep and you have got to walk up to a car and see if that baby is still alive, it made it a bit more real I guess.”
Ms Petrie said her campaign is aimed at not only warning of the dangers of hot cars but also educating people about the law with regards to vehicles.
“Also the safety of leaving a kid in a car unattended because you’re not allowed to it’s against the law but it’s also against the law to leave a vehicle unlocked so either way you have to take the kids out of the car,” she said.
“Not just kids, mainly kids but pets as well, and elderly people a lot of elderly people just get left in cars.
“Even in the shade too, cars still heat up in the shade.”
Mr Power was quick to get behind the campaign when contacted by Ms Petrie.
“We wanted to get out there and make people aware that you cant do this for five minutes for one minutes it’s distressing, it’s illegal but also very very dangerous,” he said.
“Also to highlight for people that people who are new to Australia who might be from a northern climate or something, that in the Australian sun, firstly it’s illegal in Australia, and secondly that only a few minutes can do really serious damage to kids so that’s why I was moved by Mandy’s campaign.
“Today has a lovely breeze so you wouldn’t think its that hot but its gone up to 36 in just a few seconds and it’s now about 48, it’s getting so hot that the LCD screen is getting hard to read.”
You can follow the social media campaign here.
