For over 20 years, KidsAndCars.org (KAC) has been dedicated to the prevention of noncrash, vehicle-related hazards to children, such as heatstroke, backovers, and trunk entrapment. Since data is key to spurring safety improvements, KAC has long collected data on various not-in-traffic incidents. For many incidents that occur off of roadways, KAC was the first to begin collecting incident data, and it was instrumental in securing the 2005 legislation that required NHTSA to begin surveillance of these types of events.
Now, KAC is collecting similar data on pets. It is asking members of the public to let it know if their pet has been injured or killed, either inside or outside of a vehicle. Until now, there has been no data collection system for pet injuries or deaths involving vehicles, so KAC is gathering this information to protect pets—starting by gaining a better understanding of how they are being harmed.
CPSTs can help this effort by letting the public know that a quick and simple form for reporting incidents can be found at www.bit.ly/petsandcars. For questions, go to www.kidsandcars.org.)
The list of incident types that KAC would like to document includes:
- Vehicle runovers
- Traffic accidents
- Heatstrokes
- Falls from vehicles
- Window strangulations/amputations
- Vehicles accidentally put into gear by a pet
- Cars stolen (with a pet inside)
- Kidnappings from vehicles
- Carbon monoxide poisonings caused by a vehicle
- Drownings (while inside a vehicle)
- Seat belt strangulations
- Trunk entrapments
- Other vehicle-related injuries or deaths