Quote History Originally Posted By LineOfDeparture:
Drunk drivers generally experience less traumatic changes in force. "It's not the speed, it's the sudden stop. "
Folks stopped get rear-ended by dickhead doing 120, they immediately accelerate tp 120mph and all the associated trauma that comes with that rapid acceleration. They're subjected to more traumatic forces than the guy going 120 undergoing a less traumatic deceleration over time.
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Inelastic collision loading is VERY tricky.
Calculating exactly how hard the passengers accelerate or decelerate depends on how much energy gets absorbed in crushing the car bodies and how exactly they crush and fracture, and how exactly the occupants collide with the interior of the car.
Just like when people fall down the stairs. One guy rolls down the whole flight, ass over tea kettle, and is fine, another guy skids down just two steps and breaks his leg.
In general, however, the acceleration of the two vehicles will be roughly proportional to their weight.
If the drunk driver rear ends a child on a bicycle, the child might get turned into a human cannonball and the drunk might not even notice.
If the drunk driver rear ends a loaded gravel truck, the drunk might get turned into pasta and the truck driver might get a little jolt.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 63% of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2019 involved a single vehicle.
Running into something isn't necessarily safer than being run into.