IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i21p13905-d953535.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Severity of Placental Abruption in Restrained Pregnant Vehicle Drivers: Correct Seat Belt Use Confirmed by Finite Element Model Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Katsunori Tanaka

    (Department of Legal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu 520-2192, Japan)

  • Yasuki Motozawa

    (Department of Legal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu 520-2192, Japan)

  • Kentaro Takahashi

    (Hino Memorial Hospital, Hino 529-1642, Japan)

  • Tetsuo Maki

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo City University, Tokyo 158-8557, Japan)

  • Mami Nakamura

    (Department of Legal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu 520-2192, Japan)

  • Masahito Hitosugi

    (Department of Legal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu 520-2192, Japan)

Abstract

Despite wearing a seat belt, pregnant drivers often suffer from negative fetal outcomes in the event of motor accidents. In order to maintain the safety of pregnant drivers and their fetuses, we assessed the severity of placental abruption caused by motor vehicle collisions using computer simulations. We employed a validated pregnant finite element model to determine the area of placental abruption. We investigated frontal vehicle collisions with a speed of 40 km/h or less involving restrained pregnant drivers with a gestational age of 30 weeks. For a crash speed of 40 km/h, the placental abruption area was 7.0% with a correctly positioned lap belt across the lower abdomen; it was 36.3% with the belt positioned at the umbilicus. The area of placental abruption depended on collision speed, but we found that with a correctly positioned belt it likely would not lead to negative fetal outcomes. We examined the effects on placental abruptions of reconfiguring seat belt width and force limiter setting. A wider lap belt and lower force limiter setting reduced the area of placental abruption to 3.5% and 1.1%, respectively; however, they allowed more forward movement upon collision. A 2.5 kN force limiter setting may be appropriate with respect to both forward movement and reduced placental abruption area. This study confirmed the importance of correctly using seat belts for pregnant drivers. It provides valuable evidence about improving safety equipment settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Katsunori Tanaka & Yasuki Motozawa & Kentaro Takahashi & Tetsuo Maki & Mami Nakamura & Masahito Hitosugi, 2022. "Severity of Placental Abruption in Restrained Pregnant Vehicle Drivers: Correct Seat Belt Use Confirmed by Finite Element Model Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-12, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:13905-:d:953535
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13905/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13905/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vahid Najafi Moghaddam Gilani & Seyed Mohsen Hosseinian & Meisam Ghasedi & Mohammad Nikookar, 2021. "Data-Driven Urban Traffic Accident Analysis and Prediction Using Logit and Machine Learning-Based Pattern Recognition Models," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2021, pages 1-11, May.
    2. Bose, D. & Segui-Gomez, M. & Crandall, J.R., 2011. "Vulnerability of female drivers involved in motor vehicle crashes: An analysis of US population at risk," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(12), pages 2368-2373.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephanie Pratt & Kyla Hagan-Haynes, 2023. "Applying a Health Equity Lens to Work-Related Motor Vehicle Safety in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(20), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Te Ma & Mahdi Aghaabbasi & Mujahid Ali & Rosilawati Zainol & Amin Jan & Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed & Abdullah Mohamed, 2022. "Nonlinear Relationships between Vehicle Ownership and Household Travel Characteristics and Built Environment Attributes in the US Using the XGBT Algorithm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Apichai Wattanapisit & Wichuda Jiraporncharoen & Kanokporn Pinyopornpanish & Surin Jiraniramai & Kanittha Thaikla & Chaisiri Angkurawaranon, 2020. "Health-Risk Behaviours and Injuries among Youth and Young Adults in Chiang Mai, Thailand: A Population-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Venera R. Khalikova & Mushan Jin & Shauhrat S. Chopra, 2021. "Gender in sustainability research: Inclusion, intersectionality, and patterns of knowledge production," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(4), pages 900-912, August.
    5. Wen Fu & Jaeyoung Lee, 2022. "Relationship between Vehicle Safety Ratings and Drivers’ Injury Severity in the Context of Gender Disparity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-14, May.
    6. Huacai Xian & Yu Wang & Yujia Hou & Shunzhong Dong & Junying Kou & Huili Zeng, 2022. "Research on Influencing Factors of Urban Road Traffic Casualties through Support Vector Machine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Kash, Gwen, 2020. "Transportation professionals' visions of transit sexual assault: The problem of deproblematizing beliefs," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 200-216.
    8. Saeid Pourroostaei Ardakani & Xiangning Liang & Kal Tenna Mengistu & Richard Sugianto So & Xuhui Wei & Baojie He & Ali Cheshmehzangi, 2023. "Road Car Accident Prediction Using a Machine-Learning-Enabled Data Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, March.
    9. Fabricio Esteban Espinoza-Molina & Christian Fernando Ojeda-Romero & Henry David Zumba-Paucar & Giovanny Pillajo-Quijia & Blanca Arenas-Ramírez & Francisco Aparicio-Izquierdo, 2021. "Road Safety as a Public Health Problem: Case of Ecuador in the Period 2000–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-20, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:13905-:d:953535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.