Is this some kind of stupid urban legend car collision myth?

Question

A friend of mine was telling me yesterday she had heard that if you know you are going to be in a auto collision, it is best to be the car that is going at a higher rate of speed as that the faster car will create more impact on the other car and absorb less for itself. I was surprised, I had never heard such a thing; it defies logic to me, I would imagine that would cause impact damage would be decided by the weight and structure of the car(s).

Anyone ever heard this story she told me?

Answer 1

Not true, but good question for Myth Busters.

Answer 2

Complete BS.  If anything, I would think you would want to be in the slower moving car.  Think about, if a car doing 80 mph hit a parked car, who do you think would have a better chance of survival?  The guy going from 80 to zero in half a second, or the the guy standing still?

Answer 3

It is not true, its a myth.........both vehicles will have the same impact and so no one is better...................

Answer 4

Not true. Your logic seems to be working fine. There is no practical difference between two cars hitting head on at 40 mph and one car hitting a stationary car at 80 mph. Say the other car was not moving at all. It would obviously be better to hit it at say 5 mph than 60 mph.

Answer 5

That is Correct. It is because the faster vehicle is carring more momentum and force , and applying it to a lesser force.  Like a bat hitting a baseball. The bat is traveling faster than the baseball, so the baseball takes the force and flys away.

However, Its not completely perfect. Because when it gets down to being technical. Its only true with the same cars or alike cars that are close to the same weight height. Because if a car, hits a truck that is going 10mph faster than the truck, the car is going to get demalished. Because the cars momentum was faster, however still wasn't fast enough to overcome the trucks weight. If it was going 20mph instead, then it would be the greater force. So, just cause you are going fast ,doesn't make you going to win. You have to be going so fast, that you over take the other vehciles momentum and weight.

Now to add to that. Also, The faster you go, doesn't mean you will have less damage, You will still have more damage the faster you go. Because you still splitting the shock abosorbed. So just because you over come the weight and momentum of the vehicle, doesn't mean that you car isn't crunched in, all the way to the trunk. It just means you put more force on the truck, then the truck did you. Also depending on the design of the vehicle, newer cars dissapate force by allowing the car body to crunch easily, this allows the force of the blow to be take by the metal instead of the driver.

TOO CONFUSING? Hope this helps.

SO, yes, but only with same type of vehicle.

If You hit a semi, good luck on beating its weight and momentum.