Apparently It's Okay To Leave Your Kid in the Car For 15 Minutes in Florida

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Max GoldbergView max goldberg's Articles

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Every state has a series of weird or blurry laws that can be misinterpreted or plain out of date. Unfortunately, one Florida law is both out of date and dangerous. As most of you know by now, it is extremely dangerous to leave a child or pet in a car for any period of time, especially in the summer.

Made clear in previous articles, the temperature inside a sealed car can quickly rise above 100 degrees putting children and pets at risk of heat stroke and even death. With this in mind, you would think every state would have strict laws on leaving children in cars. Think again, current Florida law states:

A parent, legal guardian, or any other person responsible for a child, younger than 6 years of age, may not leave the child unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle, for a period in excess of 15 minutes.

This is a shocking law as it only take a few minutes for the interior of a car to fly past 100 degrees. Fortunately people like Sgt. David Thatcher of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department view things differently and believe no child should be left in a car alone for any period of time.