A major new safety study has revealed the dangers of travelling in your car with unrestrained pets.

The ‘Volvo Reports: Keeping Pets Safe on the Road’ was produced in partnership with The Harris Poll and amongst the many findings it concluded that drivers were considerably more likely to lose concentration if their dog, cat or other animal was unsecured. Drivers can get distracted by pets jumping on their lap or the animal hanging its head out of the window.

According to the Volvo research there were 649 instances of unsafe driving behaviours, compared to 274 when the animal was restrained.

The research has been backed up by experts at Cornell University in the United States, with veterinarian Dr. Elisa Mazzaferro saying: “While pets roaming around the car can be cute and convenient, it poses serious risk for both drivers and their pets, both in terms of causing distractions and increasing the chances of serious injury in the event of an accident.

“Unfortunately, in my field, we see the potential devastating consequences regularly, many of which can avoided by simply ensuring our animals are safely secured.”

As well as being bad for driver safety, an unrestrained dog is likely to be much more stressed with heart rates up to seven beats per minute faster. Restrained pets have heart rates dropping to 28 and 34 beats per minute.

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