Children Safer When a Grandparent is Driving

When it comes to their children traveling in a car with a grandparent at the wheel, many parents are overprotective. This is often due to fears of an accident occurring as the result of slower reflexes and diminished driving skills of older drivers. It is ironic then that a new study has revealed that children are actually safer in a car crash when the vehicle is driven by a grandparent, rather than a parent.

In fact, the likelihood of a child suffering an injury due to the occurrence of an auto accident involving a driving grandparent is half that of accidents involving a parent behind the wheel.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 38 million American drivers are beyond the age of 65. The study background information did note that overall, this group of drivers has the greatest likelihood of being involved in an auto accident,making the study findings even more surprising.

However, the study found that grandparents were less likely to use child safety seats than were parents, with more than a quarter of grandparents using less than optimal child restraints, while about 2 percent failed to use any at all. The full details of the study can be found in the latest issue of Pediatrics.

Grandfather and study author Dr. Fred Henretig, an attending emergency room physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, noted, “More of the baby boomers are coming into grandparenthood now, and this important group of drivers of young children hadn’t really been looked at critically.” Regarding the results of the study, he pointed out, “Grandparents were a little bit less up-to-date on child restraints, but we discovered that the injury rate was lower in grandparent driver crashes.”

For their study, the research team examined insurance data gathered as part of the Partners for Child Passenger Safety Study regarding motor vehicle accidents that occurred during the nearly five-year period from January 2003 through November 2007. Only data regarding accidents in which at least one passenger under the age of 16 was involved was included in the study.