Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Sessoms" <jsessoms...@nc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: OT: Kids are Dying in Cars
From: Larry Colen
On May 29, 2010, at 5:04 AM, paul stenquist wrote:
Most of my writing is, well, frivolous. Not this time. Kids are
dying in cars at an unprecedented rate. As unbelievable as it
sounds, those deaths are often caused by a simple memory lapse.
The Times asked me to look into it. The article appears in
tomorrow's paper, and it's up on the web now.
Our own Ken Waller served as a very valuable resource, and he's
quoted in the article. You'll find it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/automobiles/30HEAT.html?pagewanted=1&ref=automobiles
It's a good article, but let's take a look at it. Let's assume that
we could develop a system that would prevent every one of these
deaths, and that it could be implemented for $10 per car. Now let's
say that there are 30 million cars sold in the US each year (one car
per decade per person), that means it would cost $300,000,000 to
prevent these deaths. The article says that there are 30 of these
deaths per year, so that's $100,000 per life saved.
On the surface, that seems like it might be a reasonable cost benefit
ratio. I'm certain that the parents of the kids would certainly
think so.
On the other hand, how many more lives could be saved by applying
that third of a billion dollars to a problem that kills far more
people every year?
That's why I think having the alarm be an integral part of the child
safety seat like the NASA guys were working on is probably the best way to
handle the problem. Even if it made the seats cost $10 more, the added
protection against potential tragedy would still be worth the cost. And
the overall cost would be lower.
And the cost would be born only by those so desiring such an alarm.
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