Good design, seat belts, airbags, and friggin' luck
The other night, as I was coming home from an EMS shift at the ballpark, I came upon a recent head-on accident between two cars. Both were smaller (but newer) sedans. One was a Toyota, the other a GM. They had hit on the left third of the front end of their vehicles and were off to the side a bit, primarily in the west bound lane, suggesting one of them veered from their lane. The damage was SIGNIFICANT. Looks like at least one of them was going the speed limit (45 at this point), if not both of them. Fire was just arriving on scene as I approached, so I didn't stop, just cruised by at a whopping 2 MPH. This is a two-lane road, so were were driving partially on the shoulder to get by.
What got my attention, aside from the overt damage these two vehicles had, was that BOTH THE DRIVERS SEEMED OK. They were driving solo, and both were out of their vehicles, standing next to them. Usually with the level of damage I saw, someone is seriously injured. But these two looked as if they had merely bumped each other. Now, without stopping, I can't be sure if they were not hurt or not, but I truthfully didn't see blood, bone, or other signs of trauma.
Why weren't they seriously hurt? Well, I did see that airbags did deploy in both vehicles. This reduces the impact of a collision. Newer cars have "crumple zones" designed into them as well, which also absorb impact. I'd be willing to bet they were wearing their seat belts also, which keeps a vehicle occupant from becoming a windshield (or hood) ornament, or being ejected from their vehicle. Another thought on this was "spin". Both vehicles, when they collided, looked like they had spun a bit, which may also have lessened their impact.
One final thought is dumb luck. I've been at accidents where one person got a scratch, and the person next to them died on impact. I've seen them walk around fine for a while, and then drop, once the adrenaline rush ends, and their systems begin to show shock from the accident. Were they hurt?...
I checked on CAD that night (the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page), and although the initial call was "Collision - Ambulance", I didn't see in the notes that anyone was actually transported. I would bet that they sure felt it the next morning, though.
What got my attention, aside from the overt damage these two vehicles had, was that BOTH THE DRIVERS SEEMED OK. They were driving solo, and both were out of their vehicles, standing next to them. Usually with the level of damage I saw, someone is seriously injured. But these two looked as if they had merely bumped each other. Now, without stopping, I can't be sure if they were not hurt or not, but I truthfully didn't see blood, bone, or other signs of trauma.
Why weren't they seriously hurt? Well, I did see that airbags did deploy in both vehicles. This reduces the impact of a collision. Newer cars have "crumple zones" designed into them as well, which also absorb impact. I'd be willing to bet they were wearing their seat belts also, which keeps a vehicle occupant from becoming a windshield (or hood) ornament, or being ejected from their vehicle. Another thought on this was "spin". Both vehicles, when they collided, looked like they had spun a bit, which may also have lessened their impact.
One final thought is dumb luck. I've been at accidents where one person got a scratch, and the person next to them died on impact. I've seen them walk around fine for a while, and then drop, once the adrenaline rush ends, and their systems begin to show shock from the accident. Were they hurt?...
I checked on CAD that night (the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page), and although the initial call was "Collision - Ambulance", I didn't see in the notes that anyone was actually transported. I would bet that they sure felt it the next morning, though.
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