Expecting

At last, you may be thinking, just what I expected to see on a blog dedicated to dummies – a crash test dummy. Well, yes it is, but we do try to be unpredictable so it’s not your ordinary run of the mill, mindless serial impact victim.

This is, we believe, unique. It’s the only pregnant crash test dummy in the world. This immaculate model was conceived from a passion to understand how car seat belts might be redesigned to give better protection to expectant mothers. It’s surprising that nobody had considered improving the safety of pregnant women in cars before.

Standard belts can be uncomfortable when you’ve got a bump with a baby inside so some women choose not to strap in at all, increasing their risk of injury at a time when they really want to be even safer. So this female has a water-filled container inserted above her pelvis to mimic the foetus. Then she is accelerated up to 50 mph (80 kph) and brought to a sudden halt, just to see which kinds of belts work best.