Hot car deaths have become a major problem for the United States, with fifteen children losing their lives in this way since the start of 2019 alone. To prevent these deaths, police have just designed some free mirror tags, and they are now saying that every parent should have them.

The O’Fallon Missouri Police Department took to Facebook last month to announce that they would be giving away the free mirror tags that their officers had created. The tags serve as a helpful reminder to parents to always check the backseat before exiting their vehicles.

“In the continuing effort to provide the best level of service possible to our residents, the OPD is offering these rearview mirror reminders to ensure your most prized possession is safe,” the officers wrote in the post.

The tags, which can be attached to a car’s rearview mirror, come with two different messages; “Where’s baby? Look before you lock!” and “Baby in the back! Heat-related deaths are preventable.”

This comes one week after a 3 year-old boy from Morristown, Tennessee was found dead after his parents reported him missing to police. Sadly, he was found dead in the family minivan, which had been parked in his parents’ driveway with him still in it.

“We think he got in on his own and was just unable to get out,” a spokesman for the police department said.

Dr. David Diamond, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, has spent years studying “Forgotten Baby Syndrome.” Even though most parents think this can never happen to them, he said, “Any person is capable of forgetting their child.”

After talking to dozens of parents who have lost their children in hot car deaths, Diamond discovered a pattern linking many of them.

“When you drive home and don’t normally take a child to daycare, when you have a habit and you are normally driving home from work — and in those subsets or maybe none at all take a child home — well, what happens in all these cases, the parent goes into autopilot mode, which is typically from home to work,” Diamond said.

He added these mistakes can be traced back to basic brain function, and that our hippocampus is the part of the brain that sends us into autopilot in this way.

“It’s in that subset of cases the basal ganglia is taking you on a route that does not include a child,” Diamond said.

Social media users have praised the Missouri police department for making these tags so readily available.

“What a wonderful idea and making it available to the public is awesome,” one user commented. “Children are our most precious gifts that we have been allowed to watch over, guide and protect.”

“I can’t believe the negative comments and the overconfidence that some people could never forget,” another added. “Departure from the normal routine, especially when stressed about something, is when mistakes happen … The decals may save a baby. Thanks for providing them.”