baltimoresun.com - Improving car safety for pregnant = women

NEW YORK -- As a mechanical engineering student = at the=20 University of Idaho, Laura Thackray began designing a = computer-modeled=20 crash-test dummy that would better protect a particular subset of=20 automobile passengers: pregnant drivers and their unborn=20 babies.

When she tried to advance her research by getting a = job=20 with major car makers, Thackray got nothing but rejection letters = until=20 she contacted Volvo Car Co., the Swedish manufacturer that long = has been=20 the standard-bearer of passenger safety.

Rather=20 than give Thackray a job, Volvo encouraged her to complete the = virtual=20 pregnant dummy she envisioned by pursuing a graduate degree at = Sweden's=20 Chalmers University of Technology, whose "crash-safety" department = works=20 closely with the company.

The result may be a step forward = in=20 understanding the risks pregnant women face in violent car=20 crashes.

Thackray, now an employee at Ford Motor Co.'s = Volvo unit,=20 has built a three-dimensional computer model that simulates how = the bodies=20 of a pregnant woman and her unborn child react during automobile=20 accidents.

'A hidden epidemic'

It is an area = that has=20 been the subject of little study. Each year, 120,000 pregnant = drivers are=20 involved in police-reported automobile accidents in the United = States, but=20 the government doesn't track fetal injuries, premature births or = other=20 outcomes of car crashes involving pregnancy.

Figures on = fetal=20 deaths in car crashes are elusive because such fatalities normally = aren't=20 recorded if the mother survives.

The Center for Injury = Research and=20 Control at the University of Pittsburgh estimates that 350 to 700 = fetal=20 deaths can be attributed to crashes annually. That compares with = 697=20 deaths of children of all ages up to 4 years old in 2001, the = latest year=20 for which figures are available.

"It's a hidden epidemic," = said=20 center director Harold Weiss, who has published several studies of = in=20 utero car deaths.

The National Highway Traffic Safety=20 Administration requires car makers to conduct collision and safety = tests=20 for adult and child passengers. It doesn't require any research on = or=20 tests for pregnant women.

"There is nothing specific in = NHTSA's=20 occupant-protection standard about pregnant drivers because they = are=20 protected by safety belts and air bags, just like other = occupants," said a=20 spokesman for the federal agency.

Experts say it isn't so=20 simple.

"An eight-month pregnant woman doesn't have the = body=20 contour of a nonpregnant woman," Weiss said. "You can't = extrapolate from=20 studies of nonpregnant occupants to pregnant occupants, much less = to the=20 fetus."

The issue "just isn't a priority" for governments = and=20 industry, added Mark Pearlman, a University of Michigan = obstetrician who=20 has studied the subject for 20 years.

Marrying two=20 passions

Thackray, 28, wants to break the logjam. The = daughter=20 of a construction worker and a lingerie saleswoman, she said she = realized=20 while studying in college that "our understanding of the = biomechanics of=20 crashes involving mothers and unborn babies is appallingly=20 limited."

During her senior year, she started developing a = computer=20 crash-test dummy to visualize how mother and child move in = relation to=20 each other during an accident. The project married her passion for = women's=20 health and engineering, Thackray said. It also was inspired by her = father's obsession with buckling up his three daughters whenever = he drove=20 them around the sparsely populated hills of Idaho.

Thackray = never=20 had traveled outside North America when she moved to Gothenburg, = Sweden,=20 to study with Volvo in August 2000. As part of her graduate work, = over=20 several months she analyzed the anatomy of pregnant women with=20 obstetricians -- creating computer-generated organs, body = proportions and=20 fetuses that were realistic.

She also interviewed more than = 100=20 pregnant women, gathering feedback about their seat-belt use, = safety=20 concerns and comfort in a car and measuring their bodies relative = to the=20 car.

In late 2001, she began building the virtual dummy, = whose=20 lower torso, abdomen and upper thighs are represented with soft = tissue=20 like that of a pregnant woman.

In Thackray's model, the = mother is=20 given a uterus and placenta with amniotic fluid, while the fetus = has a=20 skull, the baby's most sensitive area. With modeling software, the = dummy=20 can be scaled to any body size and stage of pregnancy.

2 = years=20 of simulations

Thackray named the dummy Linda, after = her=20 mother.

For about two years, she has been simulating = crashes with=20 her. In the model, a car with a three-dimensional pregnant driver = hurtles=20 toward a brick wall or an oncoming vehicle. She slams on the = breaks and=20 the baby jerks in her belly, possibly separating from the placenta = -- an=20 outcome that can cause the fetus to lose its source of = nourishment,=20 risking brain damage or death.

As with all dummies, Linda = is a work=20 in progress -- with the goal to make it as human-like as possible = to=20 accurately predict injury risk.

Thackray's research is = influencing=20 vehicle development at Volvo, a company spokeswoman said, though = it may=20 take a few years before any changes go into production. For = competitive=20 reasons, Volvo doesn't allow Thackray to provide details of her=20 findings.

So far, "Linda" has demonstrated what Thackray = calls the=20 "great need" to modify seat belts, steering wheel and interior = surfaces to=20 provide a higher level of safety for pregnant women and their = unborn=20 babies.

The work also has shown that a pregnant woman = wearing a=20 correctly positioned three-point seatbelt significantly cuts the = risk of=20 injury to her and her baby. She has illustrated the grave danger = of=20 pregnant drivers colliding with the steering wheel and windshield = if they=20 aren't wearing a seat belt.

GM involved in efforts = during=20 1990s

Linda isn't the first pregnant computer model,=20 however.

In the 1990s, General Motors Corp. helped finance = several=20 projects related to pregnant drivers at the University of Michigan = Transportation Research Institute. The grant was allocated to = safety=20 research to settle an NHTSA investigation of allegedly defective = pickup=20 trucks, according to administration. But the money ran out before = UMTRI=20 could complete a validated pregnant crash-test dummy, said Dr. = Pearlman,=20 who participated in the study.

At Virginia Tech, = researchers have=20 built a virtual model of a pregnant driver to evaluate how the = uterus=20 responds to different levels of strain in a crash. Researchers = hope=20 Thackray's research and other new studies finally will make = pregnant=20 drivers a public-health priority.

"Perhaps a critical mass = of data=20 will prove they deserve to be protected like everybody else," said = Weiss,=20 of the Center for Injury Research and Control.

Indeed, = Thackray's=20 crusade put her face-to-face with Volvo's deputy chief executive. = Amid a=20 spending freeze that almost jeopardized her project, she decided, = "I have=20 nothing to lose. This is my dream."

She strode into the = executive's=20 office armed with hundreds of injury reports of pregnant women and = unborn=20 babies who were either severely injured or killed in real-life car = accidents and said: "Give me this opportunity and I'll help Volvo = provide=20 safety for all people -- pregnant women and unborn babies=20 included."

He endorsed the project and offered Thackray a = permanent=20 job.