ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. - An emotional mother is speaking out for the first time after her daughter’s death in a hot car four years ago.

It’s a tragedy that Erin Johnson said feels like it was yesterday.

"I was just driving to work one day, my husband and I had taken turns that week dropping her off at daycare, which was unusual," Johnson says.

Johnson said her mind was in auto-pilot as she drove to work on October 6, 2016. She was thinking her husband had taken her daughter to daycare, but it turns out her 2-year-old daughter, Bridget, was in the back of her car.

"Someone had called me around 4 p.m. that day to let me know that she had been found in the car," she says.

Authorities pronounced Bridget dead.

"It’s hard to put into words," Johnson says.

For the first time, Johnson feels she's ready to talk about it because she is now pushing for a legislative bill known as the "Hot Cars Act." It would require all new cars to be equipped with sensors to let drivers know a child is in the back seat.

"This could happen to anyone," Johnson says. "It can happen to the most loving, responsible parents."

Johnson says people have said terrible and hurtful things to her about the accident. But she explained, nothing is as hurtful as knowing she will never see one her daughter again.

"It feels like there will always be a piece of me missing," Johnson says.