top of page

Why So Many Kids Still Die in Hot Cars Every Year

Project Category

Client

Tools

Project Brief

Objective: This project involves creating graphics that visually support and clarify key points from the article about child deaths in hot cars. 


Scope: Create three graphics, one showing the internal temperature increases of a car sitting in the sun, the second showing the various circumstances and ages of children left in cars, and one showing the distribution of ages with ambient temperatures. Versions formatted for both desktop and mobile. 


Timeline: About three weeks from start to completion working on and off with multiple rounds of revisions to optimize the encoded information and accompanying text. Probably only about two or three full days working the graphics themselves while waiting for the article to be written.


Team: I designed and created the graphics from start to finish, Andrea Thompson produced the article. Data was provided by Jan Null, who hosts NoHeatStroke.org.


Links: 

Scientific American Article

Data: NoHeatStroke.org 

The graphics were made to showcase a rather sensitive topic: pediatric vehicular heat deaths. In other words, children who've died from overheating while trapped in cars.


Working with this data was incredibly challenging. This was my first time working with data of this nature—sensitive, emotionally-heavy, depressing data—and I wasn't sure how to prepare or how I would respond. I plan to write more about this experience in a blog post. Suffice it to say, it was a difficult three weeks working on these graphics and I learned a lot both about working with sensitive data and myself.


Regarding the graphics themselves, I wanted the second and third graphics, which deal directly with the data about children deaths, to have similar graphical elements to tie them together. This ended up being the bubbles and dots—a circular motif. And I wanted to showcase the individual children and their lives, or deaths rather, as a way to honor them. I didn't want to just show aggregations. In the bubble matrix, I used the red and yellow shades in the Scientific American color palette rather than the pure colors because those were too vibrant for the subject matter.


When the graphics were finalized, I remarked that the visualizations were good and showcased aspects of the data well, but if the title didn't tell you what they were about, then you wouldn't get that from the visualizations themselves, you know? In response, Amanda pointed out that the changes were subtle and might not set the graphics apart that much from other charts I've seen in other contexts, but the topic did inform my design decisions. And ultimately, from a reader's perspective, sometimes it's better to default to straightforward/familiar forms rather than create something customized to the topic. That was comforting to hear and good to keep in mind when I next work with sensitive data.


The bubble matrix ended up being included in a Datawrapper Data Vis Dispatch newsletter.


Desktop Graphics


A line chart showing the increase in internal vehicle temperature over time compared with the initial outdoor ambient temperature. Temperature increases most rapidly in the first 10 minutes, with the rate of temperature increase slowing but not stopping as time elapses.

A matrix showing the number of deaths between 1998 and 2023 by age (less than one year old, age one, two, three, four, five, six or more, and unknown), context (Forgotten, Intentionally Left, Gained Access, and Unknown) and total by age and by context. Deaths are highest in the “less than one year old” age group and among the “Forgotten” category, with numbers increasing in the “Gained Access” category for older children.
A dot plot showing the individual deaths between 1998 and the present by ambient temperature (ranging from 10 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 12 to 46 degrees Celsius) and grouped by age (less than one year old, age one, two, three, four, five, six or more, and unknown), with some circles colored yellow to indicate children who succumbed to heatstroke while the vehicle’s heater was running. Younger age groups succumb to heatstroke at broader ranges of ambient temperatures, with the density of dots highest in the 90-degree-F (32-degree-C) range.

Mobile Graphics





bottom of page