I’ve no doubt that jumping over or dodging a car a few times can be done given the right person, the right circumstances, and perhaps some luck. I mean people have been blown out of airplanes at 20,000 feet and survived the fall with no parachute. All kinds of weird/amazing shit can happen, but it usually doesn’t. No feat of skill can be achieved without numerous screw-ups along the way… if you can do it first-time-every-time then how hard could it have really been? The OP asked:
a) how hard it is
… to which the answer is very hard (given everyones references to a handful of succesful professional stuntmen who spent years practicing and split-second timing requirements… not to mention the physical ability and reflexes also required). And:
b) to avoid a car trying to run you over
… meaning a driver who’s not cooperating by giving a single nice smooth steady pass. The repeated and deliberate charges over several hours worth of time a car can run before re-fueling would make it next to impossible to avoid the car for very long. I still say you’re roadkill in under 5 minutes
If the car and the person were at opposite ends of the parking lot, then I can see the need to have to jump out of the way.
If the car misses once, however, how hard would it be to stay either to the side or behind it? I’d rather try to keep that up for a while than repeatedly jumping over the car or out of the way.
Yah but that’s feet first which is much harder. doing a head dive is WAAAAY easier. Mythbusters could test a header by using a foam encased go-cart in the shape of a car.
Speaking somewhat seriously, what if they were driving an old Volvo? I heard that they were designed with such a square front end as it chopped the legs off unsuspecting Elk and allowed them to roll over the front windscreen, as opposed to through it.
So, fight ignorance, kill an urban legend and tell me if you could hop onto the bonnet of Dad’s old Volvos and survive.
OK, everyone seems to be steering a bit wide of the mark here (ha ha).
The question in a human versus car duel is not reaction time but turning radius/maneuverability That’s the one unequivocal advantage a human being on foot has over one in a car.
So Our Hero, if he’s to survive, must exploit this fact to the hilt. Move in erratic ways. Never give the car-driving Villain a clear indication of a direction. If he’s coming right at you, moving in a deceptively shallow curve relative to his path should be enough to cause him to miss you, possibly not by much.
Whatever do, never move in a straight line or a simple curve. The fact that you can stop and turn on considerably less than a dime is your strongest advantage.
Unfortunately, as a barehanded human being who is, for the sake of argument, functionally naked (no useful clothing items, nothing handy in your pockets) there’s not a hell of a lot to do to fight back. No obstacles to feint them into striking, no jacket to throw onto the windshield, no small heavy objects to pick up and whip at the windshield, nothing.
If you’re very agile and quick, you might be able to fake the car into pulling a sharp enough turn that it has to stop for a moment, then get into the car.
You missed this one, Magiver. [del]Seems genuine, eh?[/del] On second thoughts, I’ve just been looking at the shadows, and he may have been stood to the side. BUT, he would have cleared it, don’t ya think?
They actually did test this not too long ago on some SpikeTV show. I think it’s called MANswers. Unfortunately I cannot remember the results, but maybe someone else who saw it remembers, or can dig up a video.
I was thinking of that show when I was reading this. I have no idea of the accuracy of their claims, but they said it was best to jump into the windshield, ala a stuntman
What exactly are you arguing here, that it’s possible to jump over a car one time? Yes, if you’re lucky. Of course, if you jump just a bit too early you do a header into the speeding car, which is probably bad for you. And if you jump a bit too late you do a header into the speeding car which, as previously established, is probably bad for you.
That’s what I was thinking. If you’re close enough to each other, just stay to the car’s side. You’d have to move quickly and hop around a lot, but a healthy person should be able to do it. Might not be perfect, but it could buy you some time.
I don’t think that would work for long at all. The car can clearly go faster than you, so all it has to do is drive far enough away from you and then turn to face you. Then you’re back in the “dodging an oncoming car” mode of escape.
