NASHVILLE, Tenn. — We have all heard the tragic stories of a parent accidentally leaving a child in a hot car.
A Tennessee lawmaker now thinks a simple idea can be a life-saving reminder.
“We want to create this placard for parents,” Maury County Representative Scott Cepicky said.
He hopes words like “baby on board” or “baby in back” can be put on a placard placed on a vehicle’s front seat rear view mirror.
He hopes it can be a two-way reminder for both a parent driving with a child in the back seat and potentially someone walking by a car with an unattended toddler.
“So as a parent when I go to get the key out, I will see that facing me (reminding me) ‘where’s the baby?’ and then when the public walks by they will see baby in the back seat,” the lawmaker said.
He’s not worried about the public potentially peering into a car.
“Not at all because the human life would outweigh some kind of objection one would have,” Rep. Cepicky said.
Cepicky hopes unspent money in this year’s state budget would cover an estimated 156-thousand dollars for printing a million placards distributed statewide.
It would require executive action from Governor Bill Lee.
The placards would be available at places where the public gets government services.
DCS would work with all the daycares. the local clerks–the county clerks would work when you go into get your tags at the DMV to go ahead and have them available for you to recieve,” the lawmaker said.
Rep. Cepicky hopes the million placards will be ready in the next month if the additional funds are found in this year’s state budget.
Similar placards are already being distributed by Maury Regional Health in Columbia, Tennessee.
— Story from WKRN | Nexstar
