Post #3628316

Trying really hard not to read about those child deaths in France where parents forget them in cars. But they find me anyway. And f*** they make me so angry. A kid almost the same age as my boy died in a car instead of being dropped off at daycare. It’s just so tragic. I’ve seen the threads where people discuss those seatbelt clamps that send you alerts three you left the child in the car. People argue whether 5 or 15 beeps and notifications is best. Yes, a lifesaving device. But hardly anyone is talking about the fact that it’s so goddamn depressing that we have to have these things in the first place. That we’ve normalized going to work tired and exhausted, that we leave parents, shift workers and others like them vulnerable, leading to this “autopilot” mode everyone talked about. I grew up with a very different understanding of what “autopilot” meant. Something more of a muscle memory thing; like, you don’t think about how you pedal on the bike once you know how. You just do it. But “autopilot” today is almost too nice of a word for what it really is. It means looks more like zombie unthinking mode: driving into rivers because the GPS nav tells you and you’re no longer looking. Being so deep in your own thoughts and exhaustion that you forget you have children. Who are in the car with you. I also grew up with a checklist mentality. It was so normal I didn’t even know you could live otherwise. Like, you don’t do anything complex without a checklist. Getting in and out of a car comes with a checklist that you have to perform instinctively too. Did you turn the lights off? Engine? Also, are there still any passengers with you still in the car?? These poor, poor children didn’t deserve this. RIP.