It’s heartbreaking to lose someone to something so preventable.
Every year, almost 40 children die from being left inside a car. When turned off, temperatures inside a car can skyrocket especially when it’s left sitting under the sun. It’s much more dangerous now that heatwaves are common.
87% of these kids are children under 3. And it was these heartbreaking numbers that pushed a 12-year-old girl to invent something that can further help parents prevent this from happening.
Lydia Denton shared that she got emotional when she learned about kids dying inside a hot car.
What struck her the most was that these deaths were there even if they were deemed preventable.
Denton turned this pain and frustration into something more tangible – something that can actually change the lives of people. She turned it into something that can save these kids.
She invented a car seat device.
It’s not just any kind of car accessory, though. The device can measure the interior temperature of a car and can alert parents and emergency officials if the conditions inside the car are becoming more dangerous.
The device is called “Beat The Heat Car Seat”.
In thinking of the device, she took into consideration two important things.
First, is it something that can actually help? And second, something that is equally important is, will people be able to afford them?
The device would cost around $50. The seat has pressure pads that trigger when something that’s heavier than five pounds is placed over it. Once it registers the weight, it will then begin to record the temperature.
The device is also portable and is designed to be moved from one car seat to another. If the parent fails to reset the device after 60 seconds, a message will be sent to 911, sharing the car’s location via GPS.
Her invention won a contest sponsored by CITGO.
The competition, CITGO Fueling Education Student Challenge, is open to elementary and middle school students who are interested in transforming their STEM skills into solutions that can make a “better and more sustainable world.”
Her invention won $20,000 – a sum she planned on using to further the development of her seat.
She shared that she joined as many contests as she could so that she could get the invention out in the market as soon as possible.
She also shared that the invention is a fruit of “family effort”.
“Once I made the prototype, I called in my brother, who is really great at coding, and my sister, who’s a good peacemaker,” she said to Good Morning America. “When we would get frustrated, she would help bring us snacks and she helped us design it to make it better.”
It’s totally understandable why Covey Denton, their mother, feels proud of her children. She said that it was inspiring to see her kids work on a real-world solution together.
Her achievement is truly remarkable.
It just goes to show that the urge to change lives is not reserved only for adults. If we give kids in STEM more support and funding, who knows what other problems they can solve?
As for those who wanted to be like her, Denton’s mom has only this to say: “Kids don’t know what impossible is. They dream so big,”
Watch how this 12-year-old plans to save lives with a portable car seat.
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