What happens in a car wreck? Nothing good. Cars are huge metal containers on wheels. Humans are flesh, blood, muscle, and sinew. Not many people understand the impact a high-speed car wreck has on the body. Fewer know how a sometimes-fatal exchange of energy works.
While kinetic energy sounds cool, it hurts in a wreck. Kinetic energy is the energy the car — and everything in it, including the driver and any passengers — possesses merely by being in motion.
When the brakes are applied, kinetic energy dissipates as heat into the brake lining. In a wreck, that luxury isn’t available.
The whole function of a car is to absorb the energy inside the car’s structure by deforming the structure and keep that energy from slamming the body.
In higher speed wrecks, it’s inevitable that the driver (and passengers) are forced to absorb some of that energy in their body.
Think of a punch to the chest, which would hurt less than a wreck. Up to a point, the body absorbs the blow’s energy and keeps the recipient from being hurt and injured. Beyond a set threshold, the body won’t absorb enough energy and injuries result.
What Breaks Or Bursts In A Wreck?
Depending on the impact a broken collarbone can be expected. From the seatbelt alone, people tend to get a fracture in front-end crashes. The right collarbone snaps on the driver and the left collarbone of passengers.
In higher speed impacts, ribs start to break. The more energy which its, the more broken ribs. When enough ribs have been broken, the chest gives up its structure, and the lungs are affected.
Now It Gets Disgusting
Puncture the space between the ribcage and lungs, your chest will still expand, but not your lungs and air gets between the lungs and ribs, a condition named pneumothorax. Pneumothorax is among the first injuries occurring in a high-speed front-end wreck.
Misuse Of Seatbelts Often Cause Injuries
Even the misuse of a seatbelt often causes violent injuries. Wearing one incorrectly means there is no structure to absorb the crash’s energy. Very short, and very large, people have trouble placing the seatbelt over the pelvis, and the seatbelt hits directly on the abdomen. The organs in that part of the body are delicate, and the seatbelt can slice into the spleen, liver, and stomach. Consider it as a slab of butter, and the seatbelt drags through it.
Rupture one of the organs, and stomach acid starts sloshing around. If the bowel is ruptured, there are waste products splashing around where they aren’t supposed to be.
Rear-end Car Accidents Overview
In a rear-end car accidents overview, these type crashes are the most prevalent kinds of car accidents in the nation as well as the leading cause of injuries. The particular injuries a person can expect will vary based on multiple factors, but common injuries include:
Whiplash
One of the more common injuries, whiplash is caused by sudden and violent movements of the head and neck.
The extent of injuries will vary, and one of the biggest dangers is whiplash isn’t always noticed right away and can take weeks for the full effect to be apparent.
Broken Bones
Regardless of the accident, rear-end collisions cause a variety of broken bones, including:
- Hands
- Spine
- Feet
- Skull
Traumatic Brain Injury
The initial signs of TBI, like whiplash, may not be apparent immediately. Common symptoms include:
- Dizziness
- Chronic fatigue, and
- Impaired speech
