Car safety tips for Mother to be: Advice from Volvo
Volvo gives important information to expecting mothers regarding safety tips in the car
THE MOTHER-TO-BE
Women sometimes ask whether it would be better not to use a safety belt when they are pregnant. They fear that the belt could harm their unborn baby in some way. The answer to this question is that they should definitely use a safety belt at all times, right up until the birth.
Equally important is the need to wear it correctly. The top of the diagonal belt should be taut against the front of the shoulder, crossing down between the breast and then down the side of the tummy. The lap section of the belt should be flat against the thighs and below the tummy, as low as possible – it should never be allowed to ride up in front of the tummy. The belt must fit as snugly as possible against the body. Check too, that there are no twists in the belt.
As always, make sure that the driver’s seat and the steering wheel are adjusted to give you full control of the car- you need to e within the comfortable reach of the steering wheel and pedals but allowing as much space as possible between the steering wheel and the upper half of your body.
One recent addition to the accessories department is the safety belt positioner. This is designed to keep the lap section of the belt below the user’s tummy.
There is, as yet, no evidence that safety belt positioners actually improve user safety in accidents, but there is no evidence that they compromise it either.
THE PREGNANT CRASH-TEST DUMMY
These days, researchers and car manufacturers know a great deal about the ways of protecting adults and children in car accidents. But they still know surprisingly little about what happens to unborn babies.
Since 2001, however, researchers at Volvo Car Corporation have been studying the special needs of pregnant women in terms of safety and comfort in cars. As part of this research, they have developed a unique computer model of a pregnant crash-test dummy. Her name is Linda. Linda is being used to gain a better understanding of the kind of injuries pregnant women and their unborn babies can sustain in crashes. She has also been used to find out more about the optimum positioning of the safety belt when pregnant. The same computer model will continue to help in the development of future safety systems.
With the help of over 200 female volunteers, we have also carried out detailed ergonomic studies of comfort factors for pregnant women in our cars.
Head injuries are one of the injury categories noted in unborn babies involved in car accidents, both fatal and non-fatal. The most frequented documented cause of death in the unborn, however, is the partial or total detachment of the placenta from the wall of the uterus, which prevents from getting enough oxygen.
The question is, why? Researches think that the uterus itself is elastic enough to withstand the deformation caused by the crash forces, but that the placenta is not equally elastic and therefore not as resilient. The pregnant crash test dummy is helping Volvo from finding out more.
What is perfectly plain, however, is the fact that pregnant women should always use safety belts.
To recap on the advice above, the diagonal belt should fit snuggly against the shoulder, crossing down between the breasts and down the side of the tummy. The lap belt should be flat against the tops and sides of the thighs and should stay as low as possible below the tummy – it should never be allowed to slip up in front of the bump. The belt needs to be in contact with the body as much as possible, and check too, that it is not twisted anywhere. It is important for all drivers to adjust both seat and steering wheel correctly, to give optimum control of the car.
www.volvocars.co.za
www.volvoholidays.co.za
http://vccs.volvocars.se/accessories/cat
