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Ford Driving Skills has asked us to place this link on our site in order to get the word out about their Driving Skills "Academy" Click on the picture to get it a try! Be sure to watch your volume or you might get a jolt.

Social Marketing to Pregnant Drivers

Advocates for Auto Safety during Pregnancy
Recent research has shown that about one in every 25 pregnancies is involved in a police reported crash, similar to their non-pregnant age-adjusted counterparts. We have learned from multi-state state survey data that each year about 92,000 women in the U.S. report being hurt in an automobile crash while pregnant. What is driving these numbers is that over the last few decades, women are working more, working later into their pregnancy, and driving more. The result is that women are increasingly at risk of adverse reproductive effects from crashes.

Few routine statistics on incidence and outcomes are collected from these events. However, special studies have documented that the rate of fetal deaths due to motor vehicle crashes now exceeds the rate of infant deaths due to motor vehicle crashes by a factor of five or more. Elevated fetal risks also include placental abruption and preterm labor. Long term effects on child survivors have not been studied.

About 17% of pregnant women involved in crashes don't use restraints; about the same as non-pregnant women. But proper use of restraints alone cannot prevent serious outcomes in more severe crashes.

We realize that in today's society it is difficult for pregnant women not to travel. We see various overlapping solutions to this problem including safer cars, less demand for transportation, reducing crash risk and reducing time spent in private vehicles while pregnant. Thus, there exists an opportunity to apply social marketing principles to better communicate the benefits and risks of driving while pregnant and to encourage increased safety and reduced driving exposure during pregnancy for different women in different circumstances.

Hank Weiss MPH, PhD
Director and Associate Professor
Center for Injury Research and Control
University of Pittsburgh
Building/Room: Scaife 532D
Mail: 200 Lothrop St., Suite B-400 200
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
hw@injurycontrol.com or weisshb@upmc.edu
Phone: 412/648-9290 Fax: 412/648-8924

Shelley Ena, Coordinator
Umatilla County Commission on Children and Families
216 SE 4th Street, PO Box 1125
Pendleton, OR 97801
Phone: 541-278-6291  Fax: 541-278-5488
Cell: 541-379-5815

Or click on this link to visit the Advocates for Auto Safety during Pregnancy website: Click HERE to go!