Brace before impact...!

[anonymous-user]

I had a wee disagreement with a friend not he subject of crashing.

Say for example your going to crash head on. There is nothing you can do to avoid the crash, you ARE going to crash.

My argument is/was that to minimise injury you should tense up and get ready for impact whereas friends opinion was that my way is dangerous as you can break more bones that way!

He stated it is best to go all floppy and wait for impact

None of us have actually had any 'proper' accidents so our experience is based on bullst and guesswork however judging by the 'crash pics' thread I know some of you guys are hardened veterans when it comes to crashing.

Can anyone shed any light?

[groomi]

Floppy sounds best to me, but if you have time to think about it then you have time to try to avoid/lessen the impact.

[dave9]

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

[DrTre]

Floppy is best. Always try and relax into your crash.

[anonymous-user]

Well this is the problem.

I always thought that by bracing up your going to lessen any physical injury (well a lot of it) whereas being floppy you are just going to be thrown around bouncing off bits of interior.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

dave9 said:

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

babies can drive?!!

[Liquid Knight]

My top tip would be take your hands off the steering wheel and put them in your lap.

Airbags break wrists!

[DrTre]

Not very well, hence they crash a lot

[Flintstone]

Sheeda Pistol said:

Well this is the problem.

I always thought that by bracing up your....

Your what?

[Gwagon111]

I had a big head on, five years ago. I braced like a goodun, tucked my chin in, arms locked straight. It still hurt, but I think it would've been much worse, if I'd have given up and relaxed. Someone ran into the back of my car last Febuary, again I saw it coming, so I braced, pushed my self back into my seat and tensed up. I didn't get whiplash doing it that way.

Edited by Gwagon111 on Sunday 2nd January 15:24

[Monkeylegend]

Put it like this. Try running front first ,twice, into a brick wall, once with a floppy and once with a stiffy, then tell us which hurts the most.

[tbdgriff500]

one things for sure, at the moment of impact i would shut my eyes and get my hands of the wheel and cross them over my chest, stops glass getting in your eyes, and arms falling out of windows incase you roll, i would think that making yourself loose and floppy goes against most natural reactions, could be quite hard to do!

[madala]

....not too sure about frontal impacts but have had a lorry bearing down on me from behind when I was stationery and made sure my head was firmly in the headrest and my hands off the wheel and just sat there not tense but relaxed waiting for the inevitable impact. I had no whiplash or any other injuries.

[EDLT]

Go limp, its why drunk drivers often get away with minor injuries!

[Flintstone]

tbdgriff500 said:

get my hands of the wheel

Hands of the wheel, are they like the Hand Of God?

I want some

[madala]

With a frontal impact it's best not to brace with your hands on the wheel unless you want a couple of broken arms.

[anonymous-user]

Monkeylegend said:

Put it like this. Try running front first ,twice, into a brick wall, once with a floppy and once with a stiffy, then tell us which hurts the most.

Sorry i refuse to run into a wall with a floppy and then again with a stiffy!

What sort of perv are you???

[madala]

Sheeda Pistol said:

Monkeylegend said:

Put it like this. Try running front first ,twice, into a brick wall, once with a floppy and once with a stiffy, then tell us which hurts the most.

Sorry i refuse to run into a wall with a floppy and then again with a stiffy!

What sort of perv are you???

...sounds like a wall perve to me...starnge lot them wall perves...should locked up..... ;-)

[Liquid Knight]

Gwagon111 said:

I had a big head on, five years ago. I braced like a goodun, tucked my chin in, arms locked straight. It still hurt, but I think it would've been much worse,

Air bag impacted your forehead and the resulting force would throw your head back, the more resistance you offered the harder the force applied.

The first time I was in a head on colision a driver decided to overtake on a blind bend I braced myself and got a concusion, whiplash and a broken wrist. The second time (as a passenger) I was asleep and didn't know anything about it until it was too late. Same road only this time traveling in the other direction the other cars driver took a "racing" line round the blind bend and hit us head on (I wasn't driving because my wrist was still broken from the first colision). I suffered no further injuries at all.

So either relax or fall asleep if you can.

[twazzock]

Sheeda Pistol said:

...whereas being floppy you are just going to be thrown around bouncing off bits of interior.

Are you talking about going so floppy that a seatbelt can't contain you?