A car crash is one of the most terrifying things you can experience in your lifetime, and yet it likely every time you get in a vehicle and travel somewhere.
But are there ways to prepare against a car crash? Are there certain things you can do to increase your likelihood of survival or even mitigate major injury? Here are a few things you can do:
1. Wear your seatbelt: The seatbelt can prevent you from being thrown around the cabin of the vehicle, through the windshield or a side window. It is the most primary way you can increase your ability to survive a car crash. Make sure that the lap belt goes below your stomach--not across it--and across your pelvic bones. It's the bones that'll keep the seatbelt from causing trauma to your stomach and mid-section.
2. Drive the speed limit: The slower you go, the less likely you'll be greatly injured. Your car takes up the majority of the force when it's slow; however, during a collision at high speeds, the impact overwhelms the vehicle's ability to absorb it, and thus it is transferred to your body resulting in greater injury. By driving the speed limit, you are reducing the energies transferred from the car to your body.
3. Sit upright in your seat: Have you ever leaned forward against the steering wheel of your vehicle while you're driving? After reading this, you won't do it again. Your seatbelt only resists forward motion when you're seated right back in your seat. When you're leaned forward, there is nothing to resist the seatbelt to lock it into place. Moreover, if you have airbags and are leaned against the wheel while they activate, the force from the bags can throw you hack and cause further injury. Same if you have side airbags and like to lean against your side window.
4. Drive a safe car: Driving that 15 year old vehicle may be saving you some money on your monthly bills, but it may not be a very safe vehicle. Technological advances in automobiles have surged over the past decade, making vehicles safer on the roads. When buying or leasing a vehicle, look for those that have traction-control, a good airbag system, and, at the least, anti-lock brakes.
5. Remove loose items from the vehicle's cabin: The last thing you need when colliding with another vehicle at 100 kilometres per hour is last years Christmas mug (the one from aunt Bunny replete with antlers) being hurled at your head--worse yet, your son's collection of extra-heavy bug and reptile books. Put all loose belongings in the glove compartment or trunk before travelling.
6. Make sure your pets are safe: A pet during an accident can become a dangerous projectile, injuring itself and those around it. Try to keep your pet in some kind of restrainer while travelling.
7. Make sure your car's engine, suspension, brakes, steering, and tires are all in good condition. You don't want to be disabled from avoiding a major collision because your tires are bald, your suspension is shoddy, or you find last minute that your brakes don't work. Keep your vehicle maintained to ensure that you have the greatest chance of car-crash survival.
8. If you see crazy drivers, get away: There's something about a bat-outta-hell driver that gets me going--I want to see if in the next few minutes he's (it's often a he--well at least 95% of the time) going to crash out while attempting to shoot up the tailpipe of the car ahead of him. But this is not a sound approach--you're supposed to just get right out of the way, in the event that your hunch is a correct one, but you find yourself in the accident. Crazy drivers can trigger all kinds of emotional responses--it's best to avoid them.
9. If a car crash is inevitable, try to do the following:
- Avoid a head-on collisions or front-end collisions into other objects in front of you
- Lower your speed (see #2)
- Avoid side-impacts. The side of the vehicle is more vulnerable than the front or rear.
- Where brakes are ABS, don't pump, just press firmly on them and steer the car where it needs to go.
This may sound like pure basics; however, it may make the difference at the moment of impact between you and another vehicle.
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