# In a car wreck, do people wet &/or soil themselves **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928 "2010-12-12T23:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tabrisangel19](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@tabrisangel19](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tabrisangel19)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/1 "2010-12-12T23:41:10Z")
And if so, why? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/2 "2010-12-12T23:52:24Z")
It varies by individual and circumstance. Maybe you should do an anonymous poll asking if members that have been in a car wreck soiled themselves. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/3 "2010-12-13T00:05:53Z")
You’ve heard the expression “It Scared the shit out of someone”? It really does happen after a bad scare. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/4 "2010-12-13T00:13:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > You’ve heard the expression “It Scared the shit out of someone”? It really does happen after a bad scare. Like bungee jumping. NSFW-link broken. [http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/bungeepoo.jpg](http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/bungeepoo.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/5 "2010-12-13T00:33:51Z")
@ runner pat. I wonder if they tossed that harness after his jump? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/6 "2010-12-13T00:36:23Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > @ runner pat. I wonder if they tossed that harness after his jump? “That’s OK, sir. You can keep it.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/7 "2010-12-13T00:54:09Z")
> [@tabrisangel19](#): > > And if so, why? My SO, a retired paramedic with 30 years, says, “Occasionally”. Women are more susceptible to it than men, in his experience, cars which are hit or hit something with greater force are more likely to induce it, and wearing a seatbelt incorrectly (that is, high, across the bladder) is more likely to do it. He adds that “most” drivers have no idea how to correctly place a seat belt. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/8 "2010-12-13T01:02:08Z")
And of course, if the crash victims die, one of the things that happens in death is that all the muscles relax. Including the various sphincters. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/9 "2010-12-13T02:41:39Z")
Not to mention that some people may be in the state of “have to go” when they were hit. Many times I have to go about the time I start to head home from work. I just hold it until I can get home and have some nice privacy. If I were hit during that time, I am probably much more likely to, er, have issues than I would normally. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/10 "2010-12-13T02:54:06Z")
Well, I once made a passenger wet her pants (she claimed) when I ran a yellow light . . . ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/11 "2010-12-13T03:04:08Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Not to mention that some people may be in the state of “have to go” when they were hit. Many times I have to go about the time I start to head home from work. I just hold it until I can get home and have some nice privacy. > > If I were hit during that time, I am probably much more likely to, er, have issues than I would normally. You’re also much more likely to rupture your bladder if it’s full and you get into an accident. Trust me, you don’t want the surgery and recovery from a ruptured bladder. Pee before you leave! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/12 "2010-12-13T03:51:52Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You’re also much more likely to rupture your bladder if it’s full and you get into an accident. Trust me, you don’t want the surgery and recovery from a ruptured bladder. Pee before you leave! LOL I rarely had a job closer than 50 miles away for most of the time between 1995 and when I got laid off a year and a half ago … if I didn’t go before I left work I would have never been able to make it home! I can not understand not being able to use a bathroom away from home, although I can understand reluctance at a rest area when they are thoroughly disgusting thanks to some dumb fucking cunt who hovers or craps all over and doesn’t clean up after themselves. [being female myself, the ones in the bathroom facilities i would use are cunts. if they cleaned up after themselves and acted civilized they would be cunts.] ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/13 "2010-12-13T03:59:02Z")
How is this GQ? People shit themselves all the time doing anything and everything. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/14 "2010-12-13T17:16:18Z")
What?! Thirteen posts, and nobody’s brought up: > [@Bill Cosby](#): > > I thought that’s what an accident _was_!! ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/15 "2010-12-13T17:25:45Z")
Bill Cosby’s Mom: Did he have clean underwear? EMT: Yes. We found them in the glove compartment. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/16 "2010-12-13T17:50:09Z")
We didn’t. In 1978 my entire immediate family of five was in a head-on collision at considerable speed. I described the accident in detail [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12164742&postcount=3). None of the five of us had any bathroom accidents, but we did start to go into shock and shivered violently after the accident. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/17 "2010-12-13T17:56:15Z")
I read somewhere that 20% of US combat troops have shit themselves at sometime during their deployment. From fear, that is. Anecdotally, I have no problem believing that number, as I know more than one soldier that has (or claim to have). Why? Some say it’s the body’s way of preparing for injury. Those that have it run down their legs don’t have it running around a wounded body cavity, causing sepsis and death. I don’t really like to buy into evolutionary just-so stories, but this one makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/18 "2010-12-13T17:56:52Z")
Hit broadside so hard the vehicle spun around several times and came to rest on the curb. Was sure I was going to die. Nope, didn’t lose it. Second time hit from behind while stopped, by someone going 50mph and not paying attention. Cement truck coming the other direction, fortunately it swerved out of the way. Didn’t lose it. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/19 "2010-12-13T18:54:21Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Like bungee jumping. NSFW-link broken. > > [http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/bungeepoo.jpg](http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/bungeepoo.jpg) That is a still from [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpIQJfl0bM&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1), a scripted comedy. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928/20 "2010-12-13T19:04:32Z")
Oh, and anecdotally I skid off the road, through a 20’+ lamp post that clipped off and crushed half the car, then into a tree and did not. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-car-wreck-do-people-wet-or-soil-themselves/563928.md?page=2)