Using science to better protect pregnant drivers in crashes

December 4, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News, Pregnancy

Science is being used to better understand the forces involved in car crashes affecting pregnant drivers.

While statistics regarding fetal death in car accidents in the United States are spotty, it’s estimated that 300 to 1000 unborn babies are killed in car accidents each year. As more pregnant women around the world drive cars, more research is needed to better understand how car crashes affect them and their fetuses.

Enter the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science (SBES) and Ford Motor Company, working together for the past three years to create detailed computer models of pregnant women in crash simulations. Dr. Stefan Duma, lead researcher for the SBES, says that the research, soon to be completed, has focused on the creation of better simulations to further spur development of better car safety devices.

“[T]his project is another example of how industry and academia can work together to conduct important safety research,” said Duma.

In an interview with New York Times reporter Tara Parker-Pope, Duma said that the models, which focus closely on the inner workings of the pregnant woman, will be useful in understanding the problematic issue of placental detachment.

Duma told Parker-Pope: “The biggest risk with a pregnant occupant is placenta uterine attachment. That’s a delicate attachment, and it doesn’t take a lot of force to detach that. If it gets detached, the baby loses oxygen. That accounts for about 80 percent of the reason a fetus is lost after a car accident. The biggest problem is the steering wheel.”

The mathematical models Duma’s team has worked on are complex, closely analyzing the features of a woman’s abdomen. “We’re still trying to understand what level of energy is required to cause damage to pregnant women,” he said.

“How much force, what position, what direction, how much compression of the abdomen will cause placental disruption? You need an extremely detailed computer model.”

However, it may be as long as 15 years before practical solutions show up in vehicles. Much more research needs to be done using the completed models. In the meantime, Duma suggests continued and proper use of seatbelts combined with sitting farther away from the steering wheel for pregnant drivers.

“A lot of women don’t like the way belts feel, and they move the shoulder strap or the lap belt will ride up and come up in the middle of the abdomen,” Duma explained to Parker-Pope. “Seat belts are designed to load on the bony structures. You want the seat belt on your pelvis.”

He also suggested that sitting as far away from the steering wheel as possible would help reduce stresses on the woman’s abdomen. Some cars have technology that allows the driver to adjust the height of the pedals. In its absence, pedal extenders are also available for drivers.

“My wife used those,” Duma said. “Pedal extenders allowed us to put her in a position further away from the steering wheel. It’s just three inches, but that’s a lot of distance in an accident.”

For more information about Duma’s research, Parker-Pope’s full interview with Dr. Duma can be found here.