Collisions aren't the only reasons for deaths involving cars. Not paying sufficient attention to the safety of children in vehicles can also result in tragedy. Just earlier this month, we introduced a safety tip after an incident in which a 3-year-old girl died of heat stroke after being stranded on a school bus for 5 hours at a kindergarten in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Countermeasures and warnings have been issued in many places, but there are many other things to be aware of in addition to leaving children unattended in cars.

On September 14th, the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) used its Twitter account and its YouTube channel to warn about the dangers of accidents involving children getting their heads or hands caught in power windows.

The photo posted by JAF on their Twitter account shows a daikon radish caught in a power window. You can see that the radish has been pushed up by the window and is already half sliced.

In 2017, JAF posted the following PSA video on their YouTube channel using a daikon radish and a burdock root in a scary demonstration showing just how strong the closing force of a power window can be. Both vegetables were completely sliced through.

In the Tweet, JAF says: "One shudders to think what would happen with such a window if a child's head was there instead of a vegetable."

Of course, the amount of force with which a power window closes varies from car model to car model. Some cars' windows have enough force to slice vegetables cleanly in half, as shown in the video.

As the JAF cautions, it's important to prevent children from sticking their heads or hands out of windows by making sure they are properly seated in a child seat and locking the window from the driver's seat.

Moreover, if there is a child in the car who doesn't use a child seat, they advise drivers or other adults in the car to ask the child to move away when operating the power window from the driver's seat.

While children can behave unpredictably, adults are able to anticipate possible accidents by arming themselves with knowledge of good safety practices.

However, some parents aren't aware that this kind of accident occurs. Therefore, PSA videos like this can potentially prevent injuries.