Camaros in the news: Two young men dead along with 2 Camaros

[AmericanMuscle4.6GT]

ugh thats awful i can't imagine how hard that must be on their families.









these cars are a lot of fun but most people don't respect just how dangerous they can be. they'll turn on you like THAT and throw you into a ditch before you even have any idea what's going on.


be careful out there guys!!! buckle up and if you're not sure if you can negotiate a maneuver, DON'T DO IT!!! even then, don't do anything stupid! i'd hate to see this happen to anyone else!

[Ravirn]

That's horrible, and tragic. :(
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the departed.

Please, folks, it's been said many times... and will again... keep the speeding to the racetrack.

[baba booey]

Originally Posted by mhood

People are killed every day in automobile accidents while wearing their seat belts. There is no way to know if wearing seat belts would have changed anything in this accident.

I also drove a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner when I was 17...

Take out the word DEALER and IS

[Taz_FL]

Originally Posted by light-my-firebyrd

This sorta reminds me of an atheist i talked to one time, and it's that same line of thinking.

what line of thinking was that?

[mhood]

Originally Posted by baba booey

Take out the word DEALER and IS

...and we have an incorrect usage of the word "your". You probably meant "you're" but who knows for sure? It's like the seat belts...you can't be sure they would prevent any specific traffic death anymore than I can be sure you are educated enough to know the proper usage of a contraction.

Besides, name calling and personal attacks are supposed to be rule violations around here, aren't they?

[Wikedwil]

I also drove a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner when I was 17...[/QUOTE]

So? How does what you did have anything to do with these kids?

[guiLT]

I think the first one is a repost.. But its till sad no matter how many times you read it. :(

[mhood]

Originally Posted by Wikedwil

So? How does what you did have anything to do with these kids?

Please try to pay attention. That was in response to a statement to the effect of "a Camaro is too much car for a 17 year old kid". Generalized statements like that are usually wide of the mark regardless of how good they may make a nanny feel. You just can't legislate safety. See Benjamin Franklin on trading personal freedoms for security.

[Patriot]

I'll bet it was the rear passenger that was ejected through the back (top) window. People think that the in the back seat you don't need a seatbelt.

There are a lot of things 'smart' people don't know. If the person hehind you isn't wearing their seatbelt, they will crush you against yours. The rear seat cannot hold back hundreds of pounds. 45mph to 0mph decelleration adds up to 800lbs force against the back of the front seat if the schmuck behind you isn't buckled in. Imagine a higher speed crash! Yuck.

If the backseat passenger isn't buckled in, don't bother wearing yours.

[CynAgain]

I can't even imagine any one getting ejected out of the Camaro. I mean, have you tried to use an ATM or go thru the drive thru? I'm tall, but I'm small. I wouldn't want to go thru any of the windows under good conditions much less forcefully removed in an accident. It boggles my mind.

[98_Camaro]

Originally Posted by mhood

...and we have an incorrect usage of the word "your". You probably meant "you're" but who knows for sure? It's like the seat belts...you can't be sure they would prevent any specific traffic death anymore than I can be sure you are educated enough to know the proper usage of a contraction.

Besides, name calling and personal attacks are supposed to be rule violations around here, aren't they?

Actually, let's prove this from a physics standpoint, shall we?
We'll assume we're going along for a ride at 30 meters-per-second (the equivalent to 65 mph). You're a 100 kilogram man (roughly 220 lbs). At any given moment at that speed, you're carrying 45,000 joules of kinetic energy.
Now, the question is this: what happens when you stop?
Well, with no seat belt, your momentum carries you through the shield at about 300 newtons per meter. If you don't stop at the windshield (you're probably not going to at 30 m/s), you're going to go flying through the windshield, and be rolling around on the ground until the friction from the asphalt pulls you to a stop. By this point, you've landed on the ground with a force of 980 Newtons in the vertical direction alone. That number isn't so bad since you would typically resist 980 Newtons standing up, but you bounce when you land since you still have horizontal velocity, so you hit the ground several times at 980 Newtons. Since no constant friction is applied, you'd roll for several meters until you finally came to stop- dead.

What if you had worn a seat belt?
For starters, you wouldn't have hit your head on the windshield. At 65mph, that kind of force is already nearly lethal, so there's one chance for you to live. Secondly, the seat belt creates an impulse. Instead of having that 45,000 Joules of kinetic energy being focused on half an inch of glass (on your head), you have several meters of stopping distance (since you get to decelerate with the car) lowering the overall forces acting on your abdomen (which is stronger than taking half an inch of glass to your head). The seat belt disperses these forces, and you're left with a severe pushing feeling. Furthermore, you'll actually catch the airbag since you won't be launched through the windshield before it catches you. The airbag, launched at 200mph* in the opposite direction, creates more counteractive forces that slow you to a stop.

In the end, it's the difference of being launched out of your car and rolling several feet, either severely damaging your spinal cord or plainly dying, and actually getting to go home at some point in the future because you weren't launched out of your car.
It's just common sense.

*Don't quote me on this. I'm not too sure about the actual launching speed, but I'm pretty sure it's around here.

[mhood]

Always somebody who will try to apply the laws of physics to a totally chaotic car wreck. Where were the air bags? I guess hindsight isn't 20/20 after all.

[Inferno Man]

:(:(

[98_Camaro]

Originally Posted by mhood

Always somebody who will try to apply the laws of physics to a totally chaotic car wreck. Where were the air bags? I guess hindsight isn't 20/20 after all.

The laws of physics are always active, regardless of entropy. Just because something is chaotic doesn't mean we can throw the laws of the universe out of play.
The airbags don't work too well if you're not wearing a seat belt. Something about you still moving while the car becomes pretty stationary. The airbags still have a delayed reaction time; they don't magically activate the moment you hit something. Even if that reaction time is .02 seconds, you still travel .6 meters before it activates, and you're definitely closer than that from the steering column where the airbag sits.