Motor vehicle crashes pose by far the greatest risk of maternal trauma leading to fetal death. In the US, about 4% of all pregnancies are involved in a police reported crash. This means that about 160,000 pregnant drivers and passengers are involved in a police reported motor-vehicle crash each year. While only a small percentage of these crashes result in serious injury or death to the fetus, it still means that thousands of families or more are tragically impacted each year.

The material below discusses how to reduce or avoid the risks associated with vehicle travel during pregnancy and also lists additional helpful resources and brochures from other sources on the web.
 

There are three ways to avoid or reduce this risk, A) Reduce travel, B) Decrease crash risk, C) Increase occupant protection.

Ideas for reducing car travel
• Arrange for people to visit you
• Shop in larger quantities to cut-down on shopping trips
• Shop online
• Ask someone else to make the trip
• Postpone trips until after pregnancy
• Rent a video or CD rather than go to movies
• Have parties at your house rather than going out
• Arrange for increased telecommuting to work if possible
• Arrange for home nursing visits rather than trips to the doctor
• Fly rather than take long car trips
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Decrease crash & injury risk
• Drive or ride during daylight hours and good weather
• Arrange for shorter trips, meet people part way
• Consider public transportation (buses, trains, commuter rails)
• Ride with drivers who are alert, experienced, cautious, and good defensive drivers
• Don't ride with impaired drivers
• Plan routes you are familiar with good roadways
• Make sure the vehicle is in good safety condition (tires, wipers, mechanics, etc.)
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Increase Occupant Protection (seat belts, airbags, vehicle safety)

Seat belts

• Proper use of restrain systems is very important. The difference between wearing a seat belt and not wearing a seat belt is dramatically seen in these movies of computerized models developed by the Impact Biomechanics Laboratory at Virginia Tech. They are courtesy of Stefan Duma, Director and David Moorcroft. Unbelted (4MB)    Belted with Airbag (4MB)

Three point belts should be used at all times.

• Fit: For proper protection, the lower portion of a lap/shoulder belt should be worn along the hipbone, under the abdominal bulge, as low on the hips as possible, and against the upper thighs. The belt should never be placed above the abdomen, since this could cause major injuries in a crash. The upper part of the lap/shoulder belt should ride along the side of the uterus, between the breasts and over the mid-portion of the collarbone. Never slip the upper part of the belt off the shoulder or behind your arm. Both the lap and shoulder portions of the belt should be adjusted as snugly as possible. The idea is to leave the pregnancy bulge with as little lap belt or shoulder belt over it as possible, thereby preventing the mother from crashing full-force into the steering wheel, dashboard and windshield, or from being thrown from the car.

• Position: The safest position is in a middle seat equipped with a shoulder harness.

• Make sure all other occupants and objects are properly restrained.

• If the middle seat does not have a shoulder harness the next safest position is buckled in the right passenger seat in an airbag equipped car or other seating position with a three-point belt.

• Remove or adjust coats so they don't interfere with low placement of the lap belt.

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Airbags

Vehicle safety

Additional Resources

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Copyright©2001 Harold B. Weiss, Center for Injury Research & Control (CIRCL)
Last updated: June 15, 2004 10:29 PM.