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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, you *should* be able to, but there are whack jobs all over the place that will take it upon themselves to call the police and rain down hell on you for this. If people were so concerned about helping out other people, they would say, "Hey, I can watch your baby for the 2 minutes it will take you to use the ATM machine" instead of whipping out their iPhones and making a video and calling 911. But no.[/quote]

The OP asked if she parked 3-4 cars away from the ATM on a city street if that would be okay.  In 90 degree weather like we've had this week, the interior of a car will be 109 in 10 minutes, 119 in 20 minutes, 124 in 30 minutes.  Infants are less tolerant of extreme temperatures and in 90 degree weather, an infant die of deyhdration and heat within 15 minutes.  Typical parallel parking spaces are about 20 feet long so 3-4 cars if 60-80 feet away.  That's pretty far for someone to try and figure out if anyone is with the child on a city street.  If you have no idea how long the child has been in the car, seconds may matter.  Even spending 2-4 minutes trying to ask around the people in the street if they are the guardian of the child in the car may be enough for that child to die, so some will call 911 and try to get into the car before trying to ask around.  A few seconds or a few minutes may make the difference between life and death in these situations.

The number of children who die in hot vehicles per year:  2014 (12 and counting), 2013 (44), 2012 (34), 2011 (33), 2010 (49), 2009 (33), 2008 (43).
People are concerned and want to prevent those accidents.  So, people who are concerned that you aren't just in the line of people waiting for the ATM up the block but that you might have accidentally forgotten your child while running errands, are whack jobs.  People trying to save your child from a horrible death are whack jobs.  People who want to see that number go down as close to zero annually are whack jobs.  People who don't want you to go through what the parents in Gene Weingarten's Pulitzer Prize winning article, "Fatal Distraction" are whack jobs.  Got it.[/quote]

How many of those kids died while the parent was parked for a minute and getting cash at the ATM?  I would venture to guess zero. [/quote]

Yes, but tell me how an innocent passerby is supposed to know that you are one of those 10 people down the block at the ATM?  The point is that someone passing by your car will have the urge to help your baby first and ask question or hunt for the mother later.  They may immediately call 911 and/or try to break into your car window.

I said earlier up-thread that if you could get the parking space immediately curb-side of the ATM (or maybe one off) that's fine because you will be within a few feet of the car and can talk to a good Samaritan who stops by your car.  3-4 car lengths away?  I think that's too far to be away from the car.
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