You are so excited to be pregnant. You hop in the car to run errands or got to work just like any other time in your life. Of course you buckle up because you want to be safe for yourself and your baby. But how safe are you?
We’ve reviewed study after study about driving during pregnancy and what we learned astounded even us. We set out to bring you the real-life pregnant driving statistics, information and tips to make driving while pregnant more safe. We hope to bring more awareness that driving during pregnancy is not quite like driving any other time of your life. Actually a Canadian study a few years ago showed pregnant drivers are more at risk for experiencing crashes.
With that in mind we put together this infographic containing information about pregnant driving statistics. Feel free to share.
Why are the pregnant driving statistics for pregnancies lost in car crashes an estimate?
The studies that offered a number varied.
- A 2015 study said 227 a year but that study only looked at crashes when both mom and baby died.
- A 2001 study estimated a low 369 of pregnancies after 20 weeks.
- A 1999 study said the number ranged from 800-3200.
- And a 1997 study said the number of pregnancies lost was any where from 1500-5000.
We use the number 3,000 since that is an average number. Really no one can say exactly how many for these reasons:
- Medical records only require a cause of death if the fetus is past 20 weeks gestation. So the number lost before midway through a pregnancy are unknown.
- Often times a crash can occur weeks before any sign of trouble or miscarriage and the two incidents are not related as cause and effect.
“I often look after pregnant women who will ask me about flights and scuba diving and hot tubs and medications and many other things, but I’m almost never asked about vehicle crashes, despite them frequently causing serious injury to mother and baby,” says Donald Redelmeier, a lead researcher for the 2015 study.
Download our free PDF guide: Safer Driving During PregnancyFor a more detailed look at just the statistics, view our Pregnant Driving: The Stats post.
This infographic was produced by Jessica Lambert, www.thebuscenter.com.
