# John Nash obit: How is one "thrown from a \[non convertible\] car?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806 "2015-05-25T17:01:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/1 "2015-05-25T17:01:43Z")
The mathematician and his wife died yesterday, and the reason in all the obits is “thrown from an out of control car.” Huh? Allow me to the first to mention the loss of equilibrium. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/2 "2015-05-25T17:12:06Z")
Typically it’s through the wind shield or out the doors if they pop open. Buckle up. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/3 "2015-05-25T17:14:43Z")
When a car get into a serious accident you can experience some seriously high G forces. The doors don’t even have to pop open. You’ll go out the windows. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/4 "2015-05-25T17:19:22Z")
A moderate to severe car crash is as good a model of chaotic behavior as you can imagine. Impose a few hundred G’s on an unbelted person and they \*will \*go through a window or other opening, material strengths (biological and mechanical) be damned. It was probably fast and they went together. There are worse alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/5 "2015-05-25T17:23:22Z")
Huh. Silly thing to say, I think, if it’s death by through the window. It’s the crashing into the window part that did the damage. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/6 "2015-05-25T17:24:13Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > Typically it’s through the wind shield or out the doors if they pop open. > > Buckle up. This. And from personal eyewitness experience, you may not make it out the car in one piece when you do so. The guy I’m thinking of landed about fifteen yards from his car. The car’s engine block ended up traveling much further, about thirty yards, but still not as far as his head went. The large semi-tractor trailer’s axle which hit him, probably had a lot to do with that though. Downside of living next to a major highway for many years; you get to see what happens when people lose control of two ton plus implements moving at 90 feet per second. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/7 "2015-05-25T17:42:58Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > The mathematician and his wife died yesterday, and the reason in all the obits is “thrown from an out of control car.” > > Huh? > > Allow me to the first to mention the loss of equilibrium. Really? Every report I’ve seen lists the cause of death as “car crash” “traffic accident” or “taxi crash”. Being thrown from the car is mentioned as a detail, but nowhere have I seen it as the actual cause of death. Can you link to one of these obits? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/8 "2015-05-25T17:49:30Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Huh. Silly thing to say, I think, if it’s death by through the window. It’s the crashing into the window part that did the damage. Actually instant death in an automobile crash (ie before paramedics can even get there) is most commonly either transaction of the thoracic aorta or a high cervical spinal cord injury. Both are from rapid deceleration. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/9 "2015-05-25T19:51:21Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Huh. Silly thing to say, I think, if it’s death by through the window. It’s the crashing into the window part that did the damage. Not really. Often it happens during a roll over. The windows break out. The doors pop open. Even if they go thru the window hitting the pavement or barrier at 50+ mph is more damaging. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/10 "2015-05-25T19:54:24Z")
In my case the door was ripped off. I was ejected approx. 127 ft from where my van flipped over. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/11 "2015-05-25T23:51:27Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Really? Every report I’ve seen lists the cause of death as “car crash” “traffic accident” or “taxi crash”. Being thrown from the car is mentioned as a detail, but nowhere have I seen it as the actual cause of death. > > Can you link to one of these obits? Yes, you’re right, the “death by car crash” is the subject. But the NYtimes obit has this, which prompted OP: The couple were ejected from the cab and pronounced dead at the scene. The State Police said it appeared that they had not been wearing seatbelts. The taxi driver and the driver of the other car were treated for injuries. No criminal charges had been filed on Sunday. > **[John F. Nash Jr., Math Genius Defined by a ‘Beautiful Mind,’ Dies at 86...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/science/john-nash-a-beautiful-mind-subject-and-nobel-winner-dies-at-86.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0)** > > The narrative of Dr. Nash’s brilliant rise, the lost years of severe mental illness, and the eventual awarding of a Nobel captured the public mind. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/12 "2015-05-26T00:07:12Z")
Wow. They were in the back seat of a cab, not wearing belts, which is certainly the way I and I’d guess most cab passengers do. God knows how they were ejected. Through the doors, the side windows, even through the front. I think I’ll belt up in a cab from now on. I’d like to avoid that. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/13 "2015-05-26T00:31:56Z")
Aren’t you required to by law? 😕 our seat belt laws in Canada apply in taxis. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/14 "2015-05-26T00:48:15Z")
Leo Bloom, have you been under the impression that every time you’ve heard of a person thrown from a car they’ve been in a convertible?? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/15 "2015-05-26T00:54:41Z")
You really see it with race cars, dragsters in particular, but when a car goes airborne under power it will immediately start to roll along its center-line axis as a Newtonian ‘re-action’ to the torque of the engine & drive train turning the opposite way. It’s like when a helicopter loses its tail rotor (only perpendicular to that). If the car is traveling fast (i.e. the engine is at high RPM) the torque is quite strong. And the G-forces inside a car in an even modest roll are more than enough to fling you out any opening (as well as sometimes rip the doors open). Always wear your seat belt… ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/16 "2015-05-26T00:59:11Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Aren’t you required to by law? 😕 our seat belt laws in Canada apply in taxis. New York at least exempts taxi passengers, at least in the back seat (there was a push for legislation requiring front seat passengers to be belted, but I don’t know where that stands). This will probably result in a push for taxi seat-belt laws. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/17 "2015-05-26T01:05:12Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > New York at least exempts taxi passengers, at least in the back seat . . . What is the rationale for that? It seems bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/18 "2015-05-26T01:11:07Z")
Uh… begging to be slammed maybe, but do we in the US have a national or state-by-state law requiring seatbelts in the back seat? ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/19 "2015-05-26T01:34:59Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > What is the rationale for that? It seems bizarre. You’d have to ask the New York state legislature. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806/20 "2015-05-26T01:55:00Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Uh… begging to be slammed maybe, but do we in the US have a national or state-by-state law requiring seatbelts in the back seat? Looks like [28 states](http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/seatbelt_laws.html) have laws requiring seatbelts in the back seat. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-nash-obit-how-is-one-thrown-from-a-non-convertible-car/720806.md?page=2)