With all this media attention about animals and children being left in hot cars, I have a proposal.

Every potential driver in the United States has to sit in a car. The windows have to be cracked about a half-inch each. The car in a room that has UV and “sun rays” equivalent to an 85 degree day. I say 85 because I think that a lot of people don’t realize how hot 85 degrees is. When we go from an air-conditioned building or home to a car that cools down pretty quickly on an 85 degree day, we don’t always get that “man it’s hot out” feeling like we do at 95 degree weather.

As they are sitting in this vehicle, they can not turn it on. The timer starts as soon as the door shuts. They have to just sit in that car until they cannot stand it anymore and have to get out. Once the door is opened again, the timer stops. I think everyone would think twice about leaving their child or animal in the car with the windows “cracked” after they did this test. Once the test is complete and they have passed everything else, THEN they can get their license.

I wonder how many lives we would save if this was a requirement?