What To Do When You Know You're Going To Get Rear-Ended

What To Do When You Know You're Going To Get Rear-Ended

Upwards of 3 million car crashes occur each year in the US. 93% of those are said to be due to driver error.[1] Many crashes are low speed and result in no apparent injury, but a significant number of crashes cause serious injury and long term consequences for the victims. Up to 40% of whiplash injuries become chronic painful conditions. [2]

In an effort to reduce the number of whiplash injuries due to car crashes, I am sharing information on how to avoid suffering a whiplash injury. You have very little control over someone crashing into you. And you have very little control once you are hit over how badly you will be injured. So the premise of this article is to provide practical tips on how to minimize injuries when you are faced with the inevitable collision.

Whiplash injuries result from shearing forces in the neck due to the vehicle being propelled forward while the head and neck stay momentarily stationary. The neck takes on an "S' shaped deformation resulting in damage to the muscles, ligaments, discs, nerves and joints. Injuries may occur in very low speed collisions of only 2.5 mph. By the time you are conscious of the impact, your neck is damaged.[3] [4] [5]

In our previous article you learned the one thing to do to prevent whiplash is to adjust your head restraint properly. [6] [7]

This article will address a few of the many factors researchers have discovered aggravate or intensify whiplash injuries. These factors relate to what you can do to prevent or minimize an injury when faced with a certain collision.

Factor 1: Awareness

Occupants who have no prior knowledge to a crash are 15 times more likely to suffer injury. [8] With this in mind it makes sense to avoid an injury you need to be aware of your surroundings and watch your rear view mirror when stopping at lights or in stop and go traffic on the freeway. Be aware of tires squeals and sounds of collisions behind. If you see a collision coming you will know what to do with the next tip.

Factor 2: Bracing

According to researcher Teasell injury is greater "when the impact is unexpected and the victims is unable to brace."[8] Anyone who watched Star Trek or old WWII submarine movies knows this. When faced with a crash "go to battle stations." The command "brace! brace! brace!" should come to mind. The second you notice another vehicle may strike you, brace for the crash by leaning your head against the head restraint and your body back against the seat. If you're the driver put both hands on the steering wheel and stretch your arms out to push yourself back into the seat. Firmly plant your foot on the brake and the other foot on the floor. By bracing like this your entire body becomes rigid and is essentially part of the car. Bracing like this will prevent injuries in just about any low speed collision and will minimize damage in higher speed collisions. If you have passengers command everyone to "lean back, hold on!"

Factor 3: Body position

Injuries are magnified by your head, body or the vehicle itself being turned at an angle.[9] For maximum protection you want both sides of your muscles and ligaments to bear the load of a collision. If your head is turned, only one side is working and you suffer greater damage. So, when the collision is imminent and you are bracing look straight ahead. Do not look into the rear view mirror. Head tilt up, down or to the side will make neck damage worse. Look straight ahead and brace for it.

When stopping at an intersection to make a left turn or in the right lane to make a right turn, keep your car headed straight ahead until you are ready to turn and move through the intersection. If you "cheat" and angle your car while waiting in the intersection you are opening yourself up to greater injury by being turned at impact. Worse, in the case of making a left turn, if your wheels re turned and you unexpectedly get hit from behind, your vehicle is likely to get pushed wherever your wheels are aimed, which means right into oncoming traffic! Keep the wheels straight until its time to go.

Factor 4: Expect a second impact

Once the initial collision occurs and you are properly braced you need to ride out the collision, keeping your foot hard on the brakes until you come to a stop. But you're not out of the woods yet. Be prepared to hit the vehicle in front of you! Keep bracing. If you miss the vehicle in front, do not let up yet. Keep bracing for several more seconds until you are absolutely sure there are not going to be more collisions behind you. This is especially important on freeways where there tends to be multiple car collisions. Let your guard down too soon and even though you avoided injuries from the first impact, a second one may hit the vehicle that hit you and bang, you're unprepared and injured.

Millions of collisions occur every year leaving thousands to suffer long term pain and disability. Most of the time it is out of your control whether or not you get hit, but you can take steps to prevent or minimize injuries. Learn these tips and teach them to your family and friends so that they too will avoid becoming a crash statistic.

In the next article of this series, I will explain what you MUST do immediately after the collision...

References

[1] Chapline JF, Ferguson SA, Lillis RP, Lund AK, Williams AF. Neck pain and head restraint position relative to the driver's head in rear-end collisions. Accident Analysis and Prevention 32:287-297, 2000

[2] Barnsley, Lord, Bogduk, Whiplash Injury Clinical Review, Pain 58, 1994, pp. 283-307

[3] Panjabi MM, Grauer JN (1997): "Whiplash produces a S-shape curvature of the neck with hyperextension at lower levels. " Spine 22 (21): 2489-94.

[4] Panjabi MM, Cholewicki J, Nibu K, Grauer JN, Babat LB, Dvorak J, Bar HF (1998-12-01): "[Biomechanics of whiplash injury]." Orthopade 1998 Dec; 27(12): 813-9.

[5] Koji Kaneoka, Koshiro Ono, Satoshi Inami and Koichiro Hayashi (99-04-15). "Motion analysis of cervical vertebrae during whiplash loading." Spine 24(8): 763-770

[6] John R Brault, MS, Jeffrey B Wheeler, MS, Gunter P Siegmund, BASc, Elaine J Brault, MS, PT Clinical Response of Human Subjects to Rear-End Automobile Collisions. Arch Phys Med Rehabil Vol 79, January 1998

[7] Barry L. Marks, DC One Simple Thing to Avoid Whiplash. Drmarks.com March 2008.

[8] Teasell in Spine: State of the Art Reviews: Cervical Flexion-Extension/Whiplash Injuries, Hanley & Belfus, September 1993, p. 360.

[9] Havsy, in the Amer. Journal of Pain Management, Whiplash Injuries of the Cervical Spine and their Clinical Sequelae, January 1994, p. 30.