Archive for October 7th, 2010

2-year old in Santa Fe, TX recovers after car window accident

A 2-year old girl in Santa Fe, Texas is lucky to be healthy after being rescued by her mother when she became stuck in a car’s electric window. A spokesperson for Galveston County rescue services said the girl had been playing in the back seat of a parked vehicle and had leaned out of the window. The little girl was apparently distracted by a dog outside the car. Her mother walked to the rear of the vehicle to retrieve something from the trunk and got distracted speaking with a neighbor when the little girl got stuck. It is believed the mother revived her child possibly by performing CPR. When rescue crews arrived the girl was conscious and crying. The girl was transported by ambulance to Clear Lake Regional Hospital. The Galveston Daily News story is here. A 2004 Washington Post article reported that power windows were thought to be responsible for 2 to 4 child deaths per year, a relatively small portion of the 43,220 people killed annually in car accidents in the U.S.  Some safety advocates argue any such deaths are unnecessary and avoidable: U.S. made cars typically use a rocker style switch that can cause a window to close if someone accidentally leans on the switch.  Most Asian and European manufactured vehicles use a switch that must be pulled up, rather than pushed down, to cause the window to raise, reducing the risk of accidental closure.