No one would leave a chocolate bar sitting in their car on a hot day, yet nearly every summer there are reports of children who die because they’re left alone in a vehicle.

A Detroit mother is on trial for involuntary manslaughter after her children died in her car.

Her 10-month-old daughter and 3-year-old son reportedly were in the vehicle for more than three hours June 28 while she was getting her hair done.

Since common sense doesn’t seem to be enough, state Rep. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, hopes stiffening penalties will teach parents the lesson some simply don’t understand.

Michigan already is one of 11 states with penalties for people who abandon their children in hot cars.

Even when the weather doesn’t seem as hot, leaving a child in a car can be a deadly decision.

It doesn’t take long for the inside of vehicles to heat up, and opening the windows a crack doesn’t help the problem. Children simply can’t handle the level of heat adults can, leading to that extra minute inside the store becoming a child’s last moment of life.

It’s unfortunate we need laws to remind parents of their responsibility to their children.

But since it’s impossible to legislate intelligence, strict punishments are key to raise awareness about the danger. But these efforts need to go beyond laws.

Public service announcements, advertisements and similar efforts are essential in preventing children from being left in such a potentially dangerous situation - especially one that would seem quite simple to avoid.

A simple campaign to raise awareness of the problem likely will help more than stricter laws, and encouraging a parent to take the extra second to think about what could happen may make all the difference in the world. Sad though it may be that there has to be a discussion, it can still bear positive results.