Brace before impact...!

[PHmember]

Floppy, ever wonder why the drunk drivers always come off best in a crash?

[rottie102]

Definitely floppy, legs pulled back as much as possible, arms crossed on the chest, head rested on the headrest (which should be adjusted properly!!! majority of drivers never adjust their headrest, hence the whiplashes).

If it works for rally drivers - it'll work for me!

[KelWedge]

GarryA said:

KelWedge said:

50 MPH head on, well a bit less as I hit brakes just before impact.
Me braced for impact, Wife as passenger playing with phone and looking down so did not know and so not braced.

Result

Both severe Whiplash !! Massive exaggerated compo claim for us

Dont know, still going to Docs, consultants, physio etc etc, Suggest you try it and see how you feel

[twazzock]

DanGPR said:

Mr2Mike said:

hairyben said:

dave9 said:

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

Yeah there's been a couple of big airline disasters where the only survivor was a baby.

I'm pretty certain that's purely down to mass rather than "floppyness" i.e. F=MA. The same reason cats can fall out of tower blocks and survive but people generally can't.

Is a baby not equal in mass to an adult? Not weight, but mass.

What the fk are you talking about?

[rottie102]

twazzock said:

DanGPR said:

Mr2Mike said:

hairyben said:

dave9 said:

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

Yeah there's been a couple of big airline disasters where the only survivor was a baby.

I'm pretty certain that's purely down to mass rather than "floppyness" i.e. F=MA. The same reason cats can fall out of tower blocks and survive but people generally can't.

Is a baby not equal in mass to an adult? Not weight, but mass.

What the fk are you talking about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_versus_weight

[Welshwonder]

Synchromesh said:

Possibly a silly question but surely if you had a 5/6 point harness instead all that force that made you submarine in your seat would have been stopped by the 'crotch strap', in effect putting all that force your nuts. Wouldn't that have been just as, if not more, painful (and possibly have stopped you ever being able to have kids!)?

The position of the strap(s) mean that won't happen, unless the seat or harness isn't fitted or set up correctly.

Plus, who want kids?

[Mr2Mike]

DanGPR said:

Mr2Mike said:

hairyben said:

dave9 said:

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

Yeah there's been a couple of big airline disasters where the only survivor was a baby.

I'm pretty certain that's purely down to mass rather than "floppyness" i.e. F=MA. The same reason cats can fall out of tower blocks and survive but people generally can't.

Is a baby not equal in mass to an adult? Not weight, but mass.

I know that we have an obesity epidemic but I've yet not seen any babies with the same mass as an normal adult. Are you perhaps thinking about density, i.e. mass per unit volume?

[randomwalk]

I went backwards into an embankment about 50mph, I braced myself into the seat and put my head against the head rest, had no whiplash, maybe be different for a frontal impact.

[berni29]

Hi

Floppy I think, as many years ago I fell asleep driving a MK2 Cortina and escaped basically unhurt even after a heavy impact. One hell of a way to wake up.

Berni

[LeeThr]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

dave9 said:

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

babies can drive?!!

they might as well be able to with some peoples standards of driving. Looks that way also when you dont see the little old women driving the nissan micra around town not being able to see over the steering wheel.

[Steve H]

Has anyone considered the possibility that in the very, very short period of time between giving up trying to avoid the upcoming carnage and the actual impact you will just do whatever your instincts tell you to and so relaxing is pretty unlikely unless you actually pass out before you hit.

Hands off wheel or feet off pedals is probably a good call but my guess is that most people are still trying to steer and brake their way out of trouble even on the other side of the armco (if their limbs are still working).

[seismic22]

I had a big crash, while back, i braced, pushed myself back into the seat whilst holding onto the steering wheel tight. I came out of the crash with no injuries at all. My passenger didnt brace had major whiplash and because he moved about side to side ended up smashing his head open and was in hospital for 3 days. His head went out his side window and scraped the floor as th car was on its side, when the car rolled over my side i was fine.

If the steering column and pedals had been pushed back thenundoubtedly i would have been screwed and broken wrists, arms, ankles and legs etc. Depends what sorta crash your having! I dint think about bracing, i just did it naturally.

[twazzock]

rottie102 said:

twazzock said:

DanGPR said:

Mr2Mike said:

hairyben said:

dave9 said:

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

Yeah there's been a couple of big airline disasters where the only survivor was a baby.

I'm pretty certain that's purely down to mass rather than "floppyness" i.e. F=MA. The same reason cats can fall out of tower blocks and survive but people generally can't.

Is a baby not equal in mass to an adult? Not weight, but mass.

What the fk are you talking about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_versus_weight

I know the difference, thanks; I went to secondary school.

[nsmith1180]

randomwalk said:

I went backwards into an embankment about 50mph, I braced myself into the seat and put my head against the head rest, had no whiplash, maybe be different for a frontal impact.

The force of the impact would not have whipped your head front then back again, hence no whiplash.

When I wrote off my Kalos I was unconcious and came out of it fine, the cops said I shouldnt have come out of it at all. So Floppy is the best way in a car crash.

[reggie82]

twazzock said:

rottie102 said:

twazzock said:

DanGPR said:

Mr2Mike said:

hairyben said:

dave9 said:

floppy - that's why babies often survive unhurt

Yeah there's been a couple of big airline disasters where the only survivor was a baby.

I'm pretty certain that's purely down to mass rather than "floppyness" i.e. F=MA. The same reason cats can fall out of tower blocks and survive but people generally can't.

Is a baby not equal in mass to an adult? Not weight, but mass.

What the fk are you talking about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_versus_weight

I know the difference, thanks; I went to secondary school.

I presume he was posting it for the benefit of the person who thought a baby has the same mass as an adult, rather than for you?

I don't think the baby's mass has anything to do with surviving crashes. Ok, the force the baby hits anything with would be smaller, but an adult has a bigger surface area to diperse the force across.

So although Force = Mass X Acceleration, Pressure = Force / Area.

I would expect it is to do with babies not tensing up and maybe also that their bones aren't as brittle.

[anonymous-user]

Floppy, certainly. Unless you let your limbs flail around and smash into stuff. I would call it relaxed rather than completely rag doll.

With relaxed limbs you are giving them the ability to absorb some shock forces by allowing them to move slightly. Tensed up you are not and so all the shock is dissipated straight through them and none is dissipated through movement.

It's essentially the difference between a ductile and a brittle material in a shock load test. If you dropped a mass on to each of them you'd see the ductile one deflect more than the other and therefore that one has a higher resilience to shock.

ETA:

reggie82 said:

I would expect it is to do with babies not tensing up and maybe also that their bones aren't as brittle.

Yep they mention this in air crashes. A lot of the time the children survive as their bones haven't yet developed fully and have a greater resilience to shock as described above.

Edited by MSTRBKR on Monday 3rd January 13:20

[DrTre]

Probably a difference seen in the injuries sustained in tense vs relaxed.

Flailing around actually disperses energy (similar to certain crash structures deforming or moving around) while at the same time increases the chance of a body part hitting something, to wit soft tissue damage.

Tensing up means energy is kept within the body, transferring those forces to the skeleton resulting in broken bones/ligaments etc.

[Taraniis]

EDLT said:

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

^ This.
In my experience with crash investigations it is advisable to go limp, it's why babies, unconscious or inebriated passengers/drivers survive impacts with fewer injuries than sober adults. Your best bet is to take your arms off the steering wheel (or at least relax them) and let the car do the work.

[so called]

Part of my job requires that I prepare crash calculations between Choo Choo Trains.
The calculations include a figure for the stiffness of the rail car structure.
The softer and less rigid the structure the better the result, as this results in the car structure itself acting as a spring and therefore contributing to the train crash energy management system in minimising the maximum peak force experienced.

Stiff things break easier.

Having said that, I was in a multi car pile up on the M25 in 1995 where we slammed into the back of a car that had come to rest in our lane. We were aquaplaning so couldnt slow down.
Closed eyes, Pulled the seat belt tight ready, opened and closed eyes several times waiting for impact.
Only injury was from seatbelt and back of hand slapping door as it lost grip of the seat belt.

Crashed my pride and joy last year after hiting black ice at high speed. Was too busy worrying about what was about to happen to my car to think about getting hurt so never tensed up. I was fine but car was worse than my worse fears while spining down the road.

Last but not least, in 1974 was a passenger in a head on. Not wearing a seatbelt is bad.
My face has been a reminder for 38 years now.

[anonymous-user]

Well some really good information here, i was always under the impression that if you tense up you will be fine otherwise by being a floppy you will bounce around like a ricochet (sp).