Kansas is mulling over a bill which would allow police officers to assess a $25 fine to parents of children left alone in cars, unless the children are over eight years old or are supervised by another child of at least 12. The fine is being proposed as an alternative to the current choices a Kansas police officer has when confronted with a child left in a car: that of "scolding" the parent upon their return, or taking the child into custody and charging the parent with reckless endangerment of the child. Subsequent offenses would result in a much larger fine.
Although I tend to be one to decry over-legislation, I understand the concern here of preventing deaths from exposure to heat in a closed car. Two Kansas children have died in this way in the past 9 years. The fine seems a middle-ground alternative to the option of charging a parent for something my parents did without thought or needful concern when I was growing up, in a time when it was a lot more "okay" than it is now.
