Imagine for a moment, that you are driving alone down a windy road. You’re cruising along without a care in the world. Just ahead, you see a tunnel approaching that is separated into different sides. It is one lane, and one way through each side. You get close to the tunnel and you suddenly see a car coming in your lane and directly at you. What do you do?
You have three basic options to minimize the danger of the oncoming crash. You could speed up so that you’re going faster than the oncoming car, match the speed of the other car, or slow down as much as possible in order to minimize the risk during the head-on collision. There is another car collision situation that has been researched and thought to lower the risk of fatality in a head-on collision. Researchers say that if you have a passenger in your car, the danger and risk involved in the crash is lowered. These two questions are very important and could someday save your life.
The first question that was asked about how to lower your risk in a collision is actually fairly simple. It all has to do with the kinetic energies of the cars! Each car has a certain amount of kinetic energy, which includes both its mass or weight and velocity or speed, traveling towards each other. The greatest amount of kinetic energy in a head-on collision will produce the greatest amount of destruction. Both cars have more than likely fairly equal masses so the biggest deciding factor in how violent the crash is depends on their velocities. Speeding up to a speed higher than the other car will cause the most violent crash of the three options. To decrease the risk of the crash, the best option is to slow down as much as you can before the impact. If it is possible, it is even recommended to put your car in reverse and start to travel backwards in order to get the two kinetic energies of your cars traveling in the same direction. The less you velocity in the direction of the oncoming car, the less kinetic energy will be interacting during the crash. This will result in better chances for you in case of a head-on collision.
The second question, of whether a passenger in your car could lower your risk of fatality is also not as difficult to answer as you may think. It all deals with Newton’s Second Law about acceleration and mass. The formula is a=f/m but to put it plainly, it says that the higher the mass of an object, the less it will accelerate with the same force applied. So basically, the heavier something is, the less suddenly it will accelerate if it is pushed on by something. Now you know that if you have a heavier car, or a passenger that is making your car heavier, you are less likely to have a head-on collision result in fatality.
So in conclusion, we have found that if you find yourself in that tunnel meeting another car, you should definitely slow down. It would also be safer for you if you had passengers in your car, or simply just extra weight. In any case, it is the safest method to try avoiding crashes, especially head-on ones, in any way you can. The road doesn’t have to be a dangerous place and with a little knowledge about physics, you can help yourself stay safe.
Head-On Collisions by Tessa Burt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.