The only traffic accident I remember suffering (very slight, fortunately) occurred during one of my pregnancies. Chance or really pregnant women are more likely to have traffic accidents?
Statistics indicate that almost one in 50 pregnant women will suffer a traffic accident at some time during pregnancy. And a study indicates that pregnant women who drive during the second trimester have a higher risk of suffering a serious traffic accident.
It is common that during pregnancy you feel more clueless and clumsy, less agile, more tired and with more difficulties to concentrate and all this has to do with the increased risk. So that Don't let your guard down at the wheel.
The study has been carried out by researchers from the University of Toronto (Canada) and has been published in the "Canadian Medical Association Journal" with the title "Pregnancy and risk of traffic accidents".
They analyzed in about 507,000 pregnant women if the common characteristics of pregnancy could contribute to a human error in driving and to a traffic accident that requires urgent medical attention.
During the three years prior to pregnancy, women suffered a total of 177 accidents a month on average and in the second trimester of pregnancy the figure rose to 252 accidents per month.
We do not know if that number would suffer a lot of variation in the case we talked about the first or third quarter, but the figures are quite eloquent. As we noted at the beginning, almost 1 in 50 pregnant women will be involved in a car accident at some time during pregnancy.
In spite of everything, women continue to be safer drivers, and the absolute risks of accidents are greater in men. What we should do is pay more attention to driving, as far as possible not to get confused, drive more carefully and obviously comply with the rules.
But how traffic accidents endanger the health of the mother and the fetus, we must pay attention when we get behind the wheel. If we feel bad or tired, avoid driving and go co-driver. And, of course, don't forget the seat belt.
