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Pregnant women in vehicles: Driving habits, position and risk of injury
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tThis study proposed to broadly examine vehicle use by pregnant women in order to improve realismof accident simulations involving these particular occupants. Three research pathways were developed:the first consisted in a questionnaire survey examining the driving habits of 135 pregnant women, thesecond obtained measurements of 15 pregnant women driving position in their own vehicle from the6th to the 9th month of pregnancy by measuring distances between body parts and vehicle parts, and thethird examined car accidents involving pregnant occupants. Results obtained indicate that between 90%and 100% of pregnant women wore their seat belts whatever their stage of pregnancy, although nearlyone third of subjects considered the seat belt was dangerous for their unborn child. The measurementsobtained also showed that the position of the pregnant woman in her vehicle, in relation to the variouselements of the passenger compartment, changed significantly during pregnancy. In the studied acci-dents, no correlation was found between the conditions of the accident and the resulting fetal injury.Results reveal that pregnant women do not modify significantly the seat setting as a function of preg-nancy stage. Only the distance between maternal abdomen and steering wheel change significantly, from16 cm to 12 cm at 6 and 9 month respectively. Pregnant women are mainly drivers before 8 months ofpregnancy, passengers after that. Car use frequency falls down rapidly from 6 to 9 months of pregnancy.Real crashes investigations indicate a low rate of casualties, i.e. 342 car accidents involving pregnantwomen for a period of 9 years in an approximately 1.7 million inhabitants area. No specific injury wasfound as a function of stage of pregnancy.
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