PARAMEDICS have been called to more than 50 emergencies involving locked vehicles in Brimbank and surrounding suburbs.
Date released last week by Ambulance Victoria showed paramedics in the area were called to 53 cases involving people and children trapped inside locked cars between September 2012 and August this year.
Nine of the incidents occurred in Caroline Springs, seven in Taylors Lakes, six in St Albans and five in Deer Park.
Sunshine and Keilor East logged four cases each, with Hillside and Keilor Downs recording three.
Albion, Brooklyn, Sunshine West, Albanvale, Burnside, Cairnlea, Derrimut, Keilor, Sydenham, Taylors Hill, Tullamarine each had two or less locked-car emergencies.
The figures were released by Ambulance Victoria to highlight the fact officers were called to cases of children locked in cars at an average of five times per day last summer.
More than three-quarters of these incidents involved children aged below four years old.
Ambulance Victoria group manager Brett Drummond said as the warmer weather approached Melbourne again this year, drivers needed to be aware that leaving youngsters in a car could be dangerous.
“Tragically there have been cases of children dying in hot cars in Victoria in recent years,” Mr Drummond said.
“Leaving them in the car even for a few minutes is not acceptable.
“Babies and young children can’t regulate their body temperature like adults can, so being left in a hot car can quickly become life threatening.
“It doesn’t have to be a scorching hot day for the car to quickly heat up.”
Mr Drummond said tests have found a 29-degree day, the inside of a car can reach 44 degrees within 10 minutes.
“Some people think they can just duck into the shop and leave their child but there’s a risk they will be delayed and it’s a risk that’s not worth taking,” Mr Drummond said.
