Source: PostGazette.com
Fewer children hurt than with parents
Kids may be safest in cars when grandma or grandpa are driving
instead of mom or dad, according to study results that even made the
researchers do a double-take.
"We were surprised to discover that the injury rate was considerably
lower in crashes where grandparents were the drivers," said Fred
Henretig, an emergency medicine specialist at Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia and the study's lead author.
Previous evidence indicates that car crashes are more common in older
drivers, mostly those beyond age 65. The study looked at injuries
rather than who had more crashes, and found that children's risk for
injury was 50 percent lower when riding with grandparents than with
parents.
The results are from an analysis of State Farm insurance claims for
2003-07 car crashes in 15 states, and interviews with the drivers. The
data involved nearly 12,000 children up to age 15.
Dr. Henretig, 64, said the study was prompted by his own experiences when his first grandchild was born three years ago.
"I found myself being very nervous on the occasions that we drove our
granddaughter around and really wondered if anyone had ever looked at
this before," he said.
Reasons for the unexpected findings are uncertain, but the researchers have a theory.
"Perhaps grandparents are made more nervous about the task of driving
with the 'precious cargo' of their grandchildren and establish more
cautious driving habits" to compensate for any age-related challenges,
they wrote.
The study was released online today in the journal Pediatrics.
Northwestern University professor Joseph Schofer, a transportation
expert not involved in the research, noted that the average age of
grandparents studied was 58.
"Grandparents today are not that old" and don't fit the image of an
impaired older driver, he said. "None of us should represent
grandparents as kind of hobbling to the car on a walker."
Grandparents did flub one safety measure. Nearly all the kids were in
car seats or seat belts, but grandparents were slightly less likely to
follow recommended practices, which include rear-facing back-seat car
seats for infants and no front seats. But that didn't seem to affect
injury rates.
Only about 10 percent of kids in the study were driven by grandparents, but they suffered proportionately fewer injuries.
Overall, 1.05 percent of kids were injured when riding with parents,
versus 0.70 percent of those riding with grandparents, or a 33 percent
lower risk. The difference was even more pronounced -- 50 percent --
when the researchers took into account other things that could influence
injury rates, including not using car seats, and older-model cars.
Kids suffered similar types of injuries regardless of who was
driving, including concussions, other head injuries and broken bones.
The study does not include data on deaths, but Dr. Henretig said
there were very few. It also lacked information on the types of car
trips involved; for example, driving in busy city traffic might increase
chances for crashes with injuries.
Mr. Schofer, the Northwestern professor, said other unstudied
circumstances could have played a role. For example, grandparents could
be less distracted and less frazzled than busy parents dropping their
kids off at school while rushing to get to work or to do errands.
Driving trips might be "quality time" for older drivers and their
grandchildren, he said.
