Too many times, a parent will decide it is convienient to leave their babies alone in a car (which may or may not be overheating, all too often it is) completely unoccupied. They might do this so often it becomes a habit. There are too many stories like this out there.
Throwing someone in prison for one incident may not be the best way to address this, especially as children develop best in the company of their natural parents, except in the worst cases where state intervention is sadly warranted, however for this to be considered normal even is a travesty.
I would say it depends on the circumstances. If a parent stops somewhere for a quick in and out and is gone for only a few minutes, there is no way for the baby or any other children to overheat. It is actually more dangerous, in some cases, to have the children accompany the adult through the parking area. Blanket prohibitions rarely work.
Oh yeah, I don’t doubt that leaving a baby or young child unattended in a car for a very short time is statistically safer, but a baby in a locked car isn’t being monitored, should the unlikely happen there’s no parent there to respond immediately, whereas injuries in a parking lot can be reasonably minimised and responded to immediately.
It’s more what feels right to me more than anything.
Yeah, feels right… Not what is right. When I was a kid, half a century ago, we were often left in the car when a parent needed a quick stop. And that was when few cars had air conditioning. No problems. You can’t make knee jerk assessments. I mean we might have been struck by lightning, too.