Summer is on its way, and it’s going to start getting pretty hot across southern California. As such, an Escondido safety advocate is attempting to spread the word about the importance of never placing a child or a pet alone in a motor vehicle.
In California, such an act is punishable by law. Vehicles can heat up to an unsafe degree in a matter of minutes. According to the Animal Protection Institute, it takes only ten minutes for 85 degree weather to bring the interior of a car up to 102 degrees, and that increases by another 18 degrees after just 20 more minutes.
This past September, the aforementioned citizen began lobbying her city’s council to allow the installation of signs in city parking lots. Those signs can only be found in certain private parking areas in Escondido at the moment, but she wants the city to take more of an interest in the issue. Right now, 17 San Diego lots operated by Ace Parking contain the signs, and the next target is the Westfield North County Mall. City officials, while supportive of the awareness campaign, worry about the cost of ongoing maintenance and replacement of the parking lot signs if adopted by the city.
The Escondido resident’s efforts have drawn the attention of San Diego Animal Advocates, an agency which has now produced bumper stickers and attempted to get a similar parking lot sign campaign going in Encinitas.