Are grandparents safer drivers than parents?
I remember the first time I put my youngest grandchild in the rear-facing carseat of my car. I think I was more nervous than when I placed my first child in a carseat. Being responsible for a child while driving is a heavy responsibility at any age.
Now, I buckle all three of the little ones in their seats and head out for an outing almost weekly — but I still have a tiny bit of anxiety that makes me drive a bit more cautiously than I normally would.
As a grandparent, I was pleased with the most recent study that demonstrates kids “may be safest in cars when grandma or grandpa are driving instead of mom or dad”. The study was a huge surprise to most, including the researchers themselves.
According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where the study was conducted, the injury rate was considerably lower in crashes where grandparents were the drivers. The study found that children’s risk of injury was 50% lower when riding with grandparents than with parents. Almost 12,000 children up to age 15 were included in the study.
There are many speculations about why this is true.
- Perhaps grandparents are more nervous and therefore more cautious drivers with grandchildren on-board.
- Grandparents may be under less stress and time constraints than parents, and they are are often less distracted.
- They may also drive more during off-peak traffic times since many grandparents do not drive during normal commuting hours.
- Maybe they are more experienced, or perhaps their driving habits have become better as they got older.
- Grandparents today are also not quite as old as they were a few decades ago – the average age of today’s grandparent is 58.
Of course, the study has some limitations and there were findings that showed parents were more cautious about things such as ensuring carseats were rear-facing until the appropriate age. But those things did not materially impact the focus of the study outcomes. A lot more research must be conducted to really figure out what all of this means.
I’d like to think that as grandparents, we have learned something in our lives about a lot of things, including driving. This doesn’t mean every parent should turn over the car keys to grandparents, but it does make a lot of grandparents feel good about the way they care for their precious cargo like only a grandparent can do.
No matter – I’ll still always have heightened awareness with my grandchildren in tow – and hopefully that will keep them as safe as possible.
The press release from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia can be found here.
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