Kid Invents Device to Help Prevent Leaving Children in Hot Cars
An 11-year-old boy named Bishop Curry says that he is always looking for new ways to make the world better. He is unusually curious about many issues, including things like natural disasters, civil rights and car safety.
So, it surely wasn't a big surprise when Bishop, after seeing tragic local news report about a six-month-old child who died when left in a hot vehicle, promised to make certain that something like that would never happen again.
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So this inquisitive pre-adolescent sat down in his home in McKinney, Texas to draw up a rough illustration of a device that would sense if a child (or anyone) was being left alone in a car. The device, attached directly to a headrest or car seat, alerts parents' phones as well as the police while blowing cold air in the vehicle's cab until help arrives.
He calls his invention the"Oasis."
Curry's father is an engineer at Toyota and when he heard about his son's idea, he was definitely intrigued by what he was hearing. At first, he checked to make certain that there wasn't already something out there. But soon he realized that his son had an original idea.
Toyota was so impressed by Bishop's innovative concept that the carmaker sent him and his father to Michigan for a safety conference.
It has been an exciting time for Bishop and his family, but the young inventor won't ever forget the tragedy that inspired the creation of his amazing device.
Fern, a local six-month-old baby girl who died in an overheated car recently, lived nearby to Bishop and often drove by her family's house all the time on the way to school.
Since the tragic incident occurred, Bishop has met with Fern's parents. "Fern's family really supported me," Curry said. "They didn't want anything like that to happen to any other families ever again."
Since 1994, 804 children have perished from heat-related illnesses in vehicles in the U.S., according to Kids and Cars, an advocacy organization that studies this national issue.
In roughly 55% of those cases, the parent was completely unaware the child was in the vehicle, they say.
The "Oasis" may be a little closer to becoming a reality. Supporters have donated more than $31,000 to an online fund to help secure a patent for the device. So soon Bishop Curry's invention will hopefully be available in retail stores all over the country.
"People are donating to a belief," Bishop's father said. "A belief that the world can change through one child."
Sources: MSN, CNN and BBC
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