Safety precaution for driving a car while pregnant
"Car safety is important whether you are pregnant or not. But pregnant women choose to drive for many different reasons."
Car safety is important whether you are pregnant or not. But pregnant women choose to drive for many different reasons. These include convenience and security to comfort and freedom. However, driving is always risky and especially so for a pregnant woman.
Here are some safety precautions and tips for driving a car while pregnant:
Prepare for breakdowns and emergencies
You should always be prepared on the road, but especially so during pregnancy.
It’s a good idea to purchase an emergency and first aid kit for the car and to have things such as a rechargeable battery charger (to ensure you can call help), flashlight, a blanket for staying warm during a breakdown, and some snacks and water to ensure you don’t start feeling too out of energy if you need to wait for repairs.
Plan frequent breaks
When you’re pregnant, your body will behave differently and you need to adjust to these changes, especially when driving.
If you’ll be in the car for several hours, stop, stretch and walk a bit. You’ll get the blood moving, feel more alert and reduce the potential for swelling.
It’s important to ensure you prepare for these and leave more room for breaks than you might normally. Add at least ten to 15 minutes to your shorter journeys, more time for long road trips.
Position yourself far back from the steering wheel and/or airbag
When you have to be the driver, move your seat as far back as is comfortable.
Try to position yourself so that your breastbone is at least 10 inches from the steering wheel.
You can use after-market pedal extenders to put yourself in a position further away from the steering wheel.
It’s just three inches, but that’s a lot of distance in an accident. Make sure to adjust your mirrors for your new seating position too.
Gauge how you feel
The increase in accidents for pregnant women is likely due to fatigue, nausea, lack of focus, etc.
So before you leave, check-in with how you feel. And if you feel any of those things, ask someone else to drive or postpone your trip until you are feeling better.
Eat a snack, drink some water, take a rest and see how you feel after that.
Remove extra layers
Coats and jackets could interfere with the placement of the seat belt. Plus it could make you uncomfortable and distracted if you get too warm.
Coats also can restrict your ability to move freely behind the wheel. So it’s better your remove the extra layers of your clothes while driving.
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Delika Dangal
