YARMOUTH, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- According to the March of Dimes, there are 170,000 car accidents involving pregnant women in the U.S. every year. Wearing a seat belt properly is the number one thing a woman can do to protect both herself and her baby, and yet a lot of women are under the misperception that seat belts might harm their baby in an accident.
Experts say, some pregnant women believe they shouldn't be wearing their seatbelts at all. Janelle Losciuto of the March of Dimes says those women are risking their lives and those of their babies.
"Women are concerned about their abdomen and the pressure it would put on the baby, so having the seatbelt across their lap certainly will do a lot to increase their baby's chance of survival should there be a crash," said Losciuto.
Placement of that seatbelt is important, too, so Casco Bay Ford teamed up with the March of Dimes for an education campaign. As Losciuto showed us while wearing an empathy belly, the lap belt needs to go under your stomach and the upper part of the belt goes across your chest.
You also should be seated as far away from the steering wheel as you can while still being able to reach the pedals. You should not disable the airbags.
And never put the seatbelt under your arm or behind your back. Brown finds the rubbing of the belt against her neck to be the worst part.
NEWS CENTER