Around 700,000 new babies will make their first solo journey home from hospital in 2016 having been car passengers inside Mum for the previous nine months.
By applying known tyre safety statistics here, something like one in four of these babies and Mums, during this lengthy period, could be travelling in cars that are potentially dangerous because their tyres haven’t been checked before or between MOTs.
This risk applies to all Mums and their children of course, not just pregnant ones, but with a new baby on their minds, it’s possible they might be thinking more about cots, prams and baby clothes than the road-worthiness of their everyday car?
And in case you are reading this in late stages of pregnancy, nobody has to do their own tyre checks because approved tyre professionals will do this for you, usually completely free, whether you’re male or female, pregnant or not!!
But pregnant Mums carry a particularly precious cargo so we recommend you get your tyres checked regularly during pregnancy. You can do this via a local TyreSafe retailer or via a tyre service that is FOXY Lady Approved as an added bonus.
Janine’s story
We’ll let Janine explain why this matters and why tyre safety will forever be at the top of her checklists in future.
Janine McCarthy had a miraculous escape after a defective tyre on her car rapidly deflated, causing her vehicle to spin out of control and crash into the central reservation on a busy motorway near her home. The car flipped six times before coming to a standstill and Janine thought she and her unborn baby were going to die.
“I could see on-coming traffic and I panicked, braking harder. It caused the car to tip and start to roll and smash into the central metal fencing. It was terrifying. Witnesses told me afterwards that the car smashed into the barrier, flew to the opposite barrier, and then rolled down into the middle of a field.
“When the car came to a standstill I was petrified that something had happened to my baby as I was nearly three months pregnant at the time and noticed blood.
“The emergency services told me they couldn’t believe I walked away from the crash alive.”
Amazingly Janine escaped the ordeal with minor cuts and bruises and her unborn baby was unscathed. She is looking forward to the birth of her baby in March but this experience has been life-changing for her.
Home safely on safe tyres
As a result, Janine is supporting TyreSafe’s new ‘Home Safely on Safe Tyres’ campaign by sharing her story so others might learn from this and not go through the same experience.
Her advice to other Mums? Add ‘CHECK TYRES’ to your pre-baby checklist and do this at the start of your pregnancy, not wait until you’re planning the hospital visit.
We say – make sure any ‘expectant’ Dad-in-waiting is aware of this too because it isn’t just women who can neglect this area.
And whilst ALL children are precious and we need our car tyres to be safe for ALL motorists, Janine’s story reminds us that when a Mum is pregnant, she and her car are carrying the life of another that is totally dependent on her for its life.
Thank goodness this story had a happy ending.
For further information on the ‘Home Safely on Safe Tyres’ campaign, view the accompanying animation.