As many of you are aware, I have a day job (as many or us do) to
support my Triumph and racing habits. This day job is with one
of the US automakers. As a result of my basic interest in all
things automotive, I have been involved in the past with vehicle
safety, or rather passenger safety. In the past, I have served
on the organizing committee of the MotorSports Exposition and
Conference put on by the SAE.
As part of the committee, I have been able to review papers for
presentation at the conference. Some of them have been very
interesting in regards to driver safety.
Head/neck restraints were a large part of the safety presentations
at the 1998 and 2000 conferences. Specifically the Hans device and
the research done at Wayne State University.
I won't go into that here, but the other thing that I have been
following closely is the increase in the number of injuries due to
unrestrained items in the back of vehicles when they either roll
or come to some kind of immediate stop. This is especially true
in SUVs and mini-vans. Since more people are driving these types
of vehicles instead of sedans/coupes, and because there usually
nothing to keep unrestrained items from flying around, the number
of head injuries has increased drastically. Even in my pickup,
with a fire extinguisher sitting unrestrained behind the seat, I
expose myself to either head injuries or back injuries. I am about
to trade my pickup in on a new SUV, and so one of the things that
I will do is to secure my extinguisher in the truck. I am also
going to build some kind of solid cage between the back seat and
the storage area in the back.
Michael, I hope that your friend will continue to improve, and I
hope that everyone takes a long and hard look at how to secure
heavy items better in their tow vehicles.
Regards,
Doug Mitchell
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Michael D. Porter
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2003 6:25 AM
To: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Been meaning to mention this safety-related item....
As I recall, eons ago, there were some cross-arguments about the necessity
for arm and helmet straps, and I thought I
would add this to the discussion.
In mid-August, I found that a former girlfriend had rolled her SUV on the
way home from work last May. Her most
immediately life-threatening injuries were the result of a loose scuba tank
stored in the rear. As the car was rolling,
she got twisted in the seat so that the tank hit her on the right side of
the head (must have really been traveling,
because after it hit her, it went through the windshield and was found 200
ft. from the car).
She's had lots of problems related to those injuries, but her most
persistent problems are related to her head thrashing
around as the car rolled. I've had to do a crash course in traumatic brain
injuries in the last couple of months and in
reading, and talking to her, her persistent problems (olfactory
hallucinations and a complete left-side visual field
cut) are related to the shearing that occurs when the head is thrown around
violently. Medically, shearing is described
principally as the skull being turned at a high rate, and the brain, being
softer and more massive than the skull,
inertially resists turning with the skull. The result is that the long
nerves (axons) of the brain are stretched and
torn. A secondary effect is that the outer surface of the cortex scrapes
against the bony ridges of the inside of the
skull, which destroys a lot of brain cells.
Shearing is the same phenomenon that produces the "punch-drunk" symptoms in
boxers who have taken too many right hooks
to the jaw.
I suppose if one is young and strong, with well-toned neck muscles, one can
resist some of the flailing, but for us
older folks, it makes sense to limit head travel with helmet straps--even a
fairly wide freedom-of-movement included
angle of 40 degrees significantly reduces the chance of shearing injuries.
As for arm straps, my friend has a very tough and painful inch-wide band of
scar tissue on her left triceps because, I
think, the window was open and her arm was caught between the door b-post
and the ground as the car rolled. Not enough
to break her arm, but enough to severely damage the muscles.
Of course, if one is sure that the shiny side will always be up and rubber
side will always be down, then I suppose none
of this applies.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]
Never let anyone drive you crazy when you know it's within walking distance.
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