Pregnancy is exciting and life-changing, but it also has a unique way of making you feel tired, nauseous and unfocused. And that makes driving while pregnant a bit awkward, uncomfortable and sometimes even dangerous.
A 2014 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that pregnant women are 42 percent more likely to be involved in a car accident during their second trimester than they were in the previous three years.
A 2011 article published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine reports that 92,500 pregnant women are involved in car accidents each year. In both studies these injuries are self-reported and the injury severity isn’t known.
Although these statistics might be intimidating and sound scary, if you know why certain effects happen then you can take several simple precautions to mitigate the unique driving risks during pregnancy.
Wear Your Seat Belt Correctly
Wearing a safety belt is a life-and-death decision we make every time we step into a car. And for pregnant women, that decision has crucial implications for their unborn child.
A 2008 University of Michigan study shows that 40 percent of pregnant women who die in car crashes were not wearing seat belts, and 62 percent of serious fetal complications from car crashes are because the mother wasn’t wearing a safety belt or was wearing it wrong.
These studies unanimously state that properly wearing a seat belt won’t have any harmful effects on an unborn baby.
So what’s the right way to wear a seat belt while pregnant?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that a pregnant woman should wear her safety belt with the shoulder strap over the collarbone and between the breasts.
The lap portion should be placed under the abdomen and across the upper thighs. The lap strap needs to be as low as you can get it on the hips, and it must never sit above or on the belly.
The NHTSA also recommends you wear a seat belt every time you’re in a car.
If you’re trying to become pregnant or have recently discovered that you are pregnant, then ask your doctor for prenatal counseling about seat belt use. Your doctor can demonstrate the proper techniques and show you how to adjust the belt when your body expands.
Respect the Way Your Body Handles Pregnancy
When you’re pregnant, it’s important to know how your body is handling the pregnancy and how that affects your daily routines. Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but if the hormonal and physical changes pregnancy causes are left unchecked, they can wreak a little bit of havoc on your driving abilities.
Each pregnancy trimester has its own set of physical challenges for driving. In the first trimester you’re susceptible to morning sickness, as well as nausea, breast tenderness — which can make seat belts slightly painful — and other unpleasant symptoms.
It's important for women who are susceptible to morning sickness symptoms to be on a medication that treats the symptom without making them tired, according to Dr. Costa Sousou, chairman of the OB-GYN department at Franciscan Health Care for the Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
“They want something that they've tolerated in the past to help them with morning sickness so they're not throwing up in the car while they're trying to drive, or trying to navigate their car to stop somewhere,” Sousou said.
“Also make sure they are well hydrated; every bit of fluid is important because everything thing you vomit, you need to almost triple the amount you bring back into your system because you're eating for two.”
The second semester is where studies correlate seeing an increase in car accidents among pregnant women. Dr. Sousou said that there are no studies which definitely give a cause and effect for those accidents, but it might be the result of hemodynamics and vasovagal response.
During the second trimester, a woman's blood volume increases to help facilitate nutrition for the baby on top of her normal dietary needs. And as the uterus is beginning to grow, it requires a greater blood supply. The more blood the baby needs, the more the mother produces.
“At the same time, the uterus also applies pressure across the blood vessels that lead toward the heart; it's like when you're lying on your back and you immediately sit up, you get a little dizzy,” Sousou said. “A similar thing happens when you're sitting and then stand up.”
When women are sitting in a car for an extended time, their blood begins to pool, especially in the lower part of their body just below the uterus, and that can cause dizziness or blood clots, Sousou said.
The solution to this is simple: get out of the car and stretch.
To mitigate the danger from blood pooling and other pregnancy symptoms, Dr. Sousou recommended the most actionable and effective advice is the following:
- Limit your long-distance driving
- Stay awake
- Drive carefully
- Hydrate properly
- Take breaks during extended drives to stretch and get blood moving
The Car You Drive is Important
We’ve mentioned several behavioral methods you can use to mitigate the health changes your pregnancy causes, but let's not forget about your car. The vehicle you drive also plays a surprising role in your pregnancy health.
Pregnant drivers should consult a safety feature checklist to protect them and their babies.
Most family-friendly vehicles already have these qualities, but many older vehicles don’t because the performance standards for vehicle safety designs are based on the stature and anatomy of average male drivers, according to the AJLM study.
There are three important car components on this safety feature checklist that can make you more comfortable and safer. These are adjustable steering wheel and pedals, a comfortable and adjustable seat with adequate lumbar support, and airbags.
The adjustable steering wheel and pedals are most important for the third trimester when your baby bump is getting ever-closer to the steering wheel.
You want to try and move as far away from the steering wheel as you safely can. Try to keep at least 10 inches of space between the steering wheel and your body. Also keep the steering wheel tilted toward your breastbone instead of your abdomen, which will direct any unexpected impact up instead of directly into your uterus.
You can get some extra space from the steering wheel by scooting the seat back and moving the pedals higher. If your seat has extra lumbar support, then that helps with the additional weight your baby adds, and will support your body better in case of a crash.
And last, you’ll want to avoid leaning forward. The lumbar support and tilted wheel should give you enough comfortable extra space to lean back against the seat with little-to-no slack in your seat belt. This posture minimizes any sudden forward movement from a crash and lets the airbag operate correctly.
Check to see if your car has these features, or if there are similar ones present that can fulfill your needs. And if it doesn’t, then, as much as possible, don’t worry about always driving. It’s okay to be a passenger, especially in the third trimester.
Reviewed September 7, 2016
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith