I’ve always had this half worry/paranoia that someday someone will swerve into my lane or something, and crash head on into me. Scary thought eh? So, here’s the scenario.
Lets say I am going about 55 MPH on a 2 lane road, and there is an oncoming Semi. As I am about to pass him, say 20 yards away, another car pulls out to pass him, going roughyl the same speed. There ends up being no place for either of us to go, and we have to hit. I hit my brakes, he hits his, we hit head-on. Combined impact = about 80 MPH.
How should I arrange my body to best avoid dying (seatbelt is on, and I have frontal airbags)? Should I put my arms up? Move my head back? Cover my head? Duck down? What should I do to best avoid a bloody death?
I have, as you aptly said, worries/paranoias of certain circumstances too. The best way to dilute the fear is to analyze it to death. First, putting your arms up would only cause you to hit yourself in the face. Second, ducking would only give that 250 plus mph airbag a better target and more room to twist and snap your neck. Third, you live in Michigan. Most roads are covered with deer. Deer are what you need to be afraid of. They are more random and unpredictable than cars coming on your side of the road.
And, since I am going to Michigan next week, I thank you for reminding me of the deer problem. Now I’ll be ruminating on that one for a while…
Nearly this exact accident happened to my wife, years before I met her. In her case the guy in the opposite lane fell asleep at the wheel and went straight, into her lane for a high speed head-on collision. The only thing that saved her was that she was driving a 1974 Grand Turino station wagon - a gigantic boat of steel. Even so, she came away with some pretty bad injuries.
Swerve to the right. I imagine that even if you run into a tree beside the road or a ditch, it’s less likely to be fatal than that 80 mph head-on collision.
hmm that airbag may be your only hope in that situation
Does that apply to Detroit?
BTW if a deer jumps in front of me and I had a choice to either swerve or hit. Id go go with option 2 mmmm tenderized deer meat…
I would say hope you have an air bag. Hope air bag deploys. Hope air bag does not kill you. If you survive a head-on like that it’s a miracle.
If you have an irrational fear of someone crossing the center line, etc., I’d suggest driving at a slower speed, concentrate on your driving and to the traffic and wear your seatbelt.
If “the maniac” does veer into your lane head for the shoulder/ditch. Don’t just throw your hands up and start screaming like an idiot.
You may also want to consider alternatives to operating motorized vehicles if at all possible.
There was a thread several years ago about if two cars each going 50mph hit head on if the force is equal to hitting the proverbial brick wall at 100. IIRC the answer was no, each car is subjected to approx. the same force as if it had hit a wall at it’s origional speed. So assuming, that each of you managed to get down to 40mph, that is a survivable accident if several things occur.
[ul]
[li]You gotta be in a good car. This does not mean one with more steel necessarly, but rather one that does well in crash tests.*[/li][li]Your seat belt and airbag systems had better function as designed.[/li][li]A little luck wouldn’t hurt either[/li][/ul]
Two of my company’s employees were in a car driving at 40-45mph when on a curve a construction truck also going about the same speed pulled out right into them. No braking occured. Truck’s bumper hit above car’s bumper (this is aVERY bad thing as the truck missed most of the car’s crash members. The Volvo they were driving has a secondary crash member located above the one at bumper height. (not all cars have this BTW) This secondary crash member took the force as the truck rode up onto the hood of the car until the bumper hit the windshield pillar, where the reinforced pillar caused the truck to deflect off back onto the ground. Bottom line was both driver and passenger survived, car did not.
*I have seen videos of NHTSA crash tests were a full sized SUV hits the barrier, seat belts starts to streach, body of truck deforms, opening a gap between door frame and door. Dummy’s head goes into gap, gap snaps shut. Ouch. This was on a 20/20 type program and while the video was clear, no mention was made of this by the reporter. Anyway, bottom line, more metal poorly designed is not better
In fact collision with roadside objects form the largest single group of fatalities on (or off, if you like) the roads today.
The main problem specifically with trees is that they are relatively narrow, and they do not absorb the impact into themselves(unless they are mere saplings).
The combination of narrowness and inflexibilty is such that all the impact is delivered to one small area, and this rips through any designed crumple zone whose role is to spread the impact.
Vehicles are commonly ripped in two pieces in side on collisions with trees (this is more common than you’d think, the side-on being the result of a last desperate swerve)
If you are going to hit then aim for the semi, he’s going slower than the oncoming car
Head on collision survivor here,
September 16, 1995
Giddings, Texas
i was in my brand new Dodge Neon doing 60 MPH with the cruise control on (asleep), he was in a 1979 GMC pickup doing 55 MPH, I crossed the centerline and hit him, he did not have time to do anything, the Neon was destroyed (almost beyond recognition), his truck was totaled but it still looked like a truck, he was not hurt very bad, I spent 34 days in the hospital, 6 operations, 7 months out of work, my list of injuries:
Open fracture of the right tibia and fibia, broken third rib (right side), broken collarbone (left side), separated diaphram, “major” soft tissue damage.
I think I got off light, airbags are good things and ALWAYS wear your seat belt!!.
unclviny
(who will answer questions if there are any more)
Not true. If 2 cars going 50 mph hit head on the impact would be the same as hitting a wall in the 95 mph range. That is only because the moving car has some give unlike the proverbial brick wall which will not move. Plus the size of the vehicles would make a difference too. If a Chevy Suburban had a head on collision with a Geo Metro, both going 50 mph, the impact to the Suburban would be like hitting a wall at about 70 mph while in the Geo it would feel like hitting a wall at over 120 mph. That is because the Geo would go from 50 mph forward to about 30 mph backwards in less than a second. This question took up many hours of class room time in a college physics class I took a few years ago. And our work was later proven by information provided by the Institute for Highway Safety.
I just survived a head on crash. I was going 42 mph and the other driver was going approx. the same. I had a 2011 Ford Fusion , the other car was a 2000 Ford Taurus. The other driver also survived but had more injuries. So the answer to your question is do not tense up. You wont have time to think about it but being a firefighter/medic the people with the fewest injuries are usually drunk.
Welcome to the Straight Dope message board, George M. The zombie comments allude to the fact that this thread is from 2002 and a third of the posters are no longer around for one reason or another. So I’m locking this thread, but if you want more discussion on the topic, please feel free to start up a fresh thread.
