A MEDICAL EMERGENCY is just minutes away when it comes to children being left in locked cars on warm days – it’s every parents worst nightmare, but accidents still happen.

Last year in the United States 42 children died from heatstroke after being left in a car, and a similar tragedy was experienced here in Ireland.

One project at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition by students from Laurel Hill Secondary School FCJ in Limerick aims to stop this from happening with a simple alarm.

Claire Cooney and Ellen Murphy have developed a device that detects when an infant or toddler is in a baby seat. This communicates with a fob on the parent’s keyring.

If the device detects that the fob is out of range, but there’s still a child in the seat, it sets off an alarm. If the parent doesn’t act, a second guardian is contacted via email.

Watch the video above for more.

Loneliness, mental health, separation: How homelessness affects children later in life >

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More