Higher Death Risks in Car Accidents for Obese Drivers

Obese drivers are among the most vulnerable drivers to severe auto accidents, a study conducted by researchers from Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and at Erie County Medical Center and published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine revealed. Citing the research, Medical News Today reported that a severely obese driver has a 56 percent higher chance to die in an accident, while a moderately obese driver is only 21 percent more vulnerable than somebody who is not obese.

Drivers included in the study were split into six different categories to determine their chances of dying in a severe accident, as it follows: underweight, normal weight, overweight, slightly obese, moderately obese and morbidly obese.

"The severity and patterns of crash injuries depend on a complex interaction of biomechanical factors, including deceleration velocity at impact, seat belt and air bag use, vehicle type and weight, and type of impact. But the effect of body mass on crash outcome has not been previously evaluated in databases of adequate size or controlled for some of these confounding factors," Dietrich Jehle, MD, said in a statement.

Dietrich Jehle also emphasized the need for a new type of crash test dummies, underlining that most of the safety tests conducted by institutes around the world rely on the effects the impact would have on normal weight drivers, while obese drivers are taken into consideration.

"Crash test dummies have saved lives and provided invaluable data on how human bodies react to crashes, but they are designed to represent normal-weight individuals. If they represented our overweight American society, there could be further improvements in vehicle design that could decrease mortality."