Rant: Shitty fucking dangerous drivers

[Jackalope]

I had a wonderful weekend camping with my son this weekend. That is, except for the incident that occurred Saturday afternoon on US Highway 101. The driver of a car crosser the center line into the path of an oncoming motorcycle. At a combined impact velocity of a hundred miles per hour, the accident resulted in the motorcyclist and his passenger pronounced dead at the scene. One of the occupants of the car was taken by helicopter to the nearest trauma center. I don't know if they were the driver or a passenger, or if they survived.

My son and I came upon the scene moments after it occurred. I'm thankful that for once, he listened when I told him to close his eyes. Of course, my problem is nothing compared to the two people are who have families who will have to learn to adjust to life without them.

I hope the person airlifted from the scene survived and makes a full recovery. I hope that if it was the driver, that he never gets behind the wheel ever again.

/rant

[wwjs]

Hopefully your son will remember about it when he'll begin driving. Imo showing graphic materials of vehicle accidents should be mandatory on every driver's education class.

[Jackalope]

Hopefully your son will remember about it when he'll begin driving. Imo showing graphic materials of vehicle accidents should be mandatory on every driver's education class.

Yeah. I agree with the sentiment, though the reality is that its not something I think an 11year old needs to be burdened with.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent answering a lot of hard questions. "Dad, why were there so many police cars? Why were the ambulances just sitting there?"

[FallentoReason]

At a combined impact velocity of a hundred miles per hour

Opposing velocity vectors aren't additive like that. Two people going at 50 mph toward each other will experience a crash of 50 mph. This is proven by thinking of two situations:

1) two cars crashing at 50 mph
2) a car crashing into a sturdy wall at 50 mph

Both will result in that car being stationary after the crash. In the case of the wall, it means the wall supplied a force equal, but opposite, to the car's force, leaving it stationary. The wall wasn't moving though. Therefore, in the first example, the second car is acting like a stationary wall, thus meaning that the experienced force is that of 50 mph.

/physics

You're lucky you don't live in Australia. On a daily basis I see shocking drivers...

[wwjs]

Yeah. I agree with the sentiment, though the reality is that its not something I think an 11year old needs to be burdened with.

It's not, but it happened. Now you can use this "opportunity" to teach him (I'm not saying that you didn't before) that safety should be treated seriously and when it's not, people usually die or get hurt. Wearing helmet while riding a bike, buckling up in back seat, driving "defensively" etc. All of that matters.

[downbeatplumb]

A 19 year old slammed into a fence this morning just little down the road from here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22421185

[ideologue08]

At a combined impact velocity of a hundred miles per hour

Opposing velocity vectors aren't additive like that. Two people going at 50 mph toward each other will experience a crash of 50 mph. This is proven by thinking of two situations:

1) two cars crashing at 50 mph
2) a car crashing into a sturdy wall at 50 mph

Both will result in that car being stationary after the crash. In the case of the wall, it means the wall supplied a force equal, but opposite, to the car's force, leaving it stationary. The wall wasn't moving though. Therefore, in the first example, the second car is acting like a stationary wall, thus meaning that the experienced force is that of 50 mph.

/physics

You're lucky you don't live in Australia. On a daily basis I see shocking drivers...

Good explanation, I also raised an eyebrow on that part lol you can't add velocities like that, it doesn't work. Although two cars crashing will be like a car hitting a sturdy wall provided that the cars have equal mass I'm sure.

[Kayenneh]

Yeah, lots of un-kudoses to dangerous drivers!

Reminds me of when dad took me for a ride on his bike, I was terrified! Not because he's a bad driver, quite the opposite actually, but southern Swedes can't drive for shit. Even though this makes me a horrific sexist, it's because Sweden loves to take gender (or any kind of) 'equality' to the extreme. Moms, who aren't too good behind the wheel themselves, teach the next generation of drivers and so forth. This results in motorists with absolute shit skills and reflexes. It's scary as shit driving there.

[John V]

At a combined impact velocity of a hundred miles per hour

Opposing velocity vectors aren't additive like that. Two people going at 50 mph toward each other will experience a crash of 50 mph. This is proven by thinking of two situations:

1) two cars crashing at 50 mph
2) a car crashing into a sturdy wall at 50 mph

Both will result in that car being stationary after the crash. In the case of the wall, it means the wall supplied a force equal, but opposite, to the car's force, leaving it stationary. The wall wasn't moving though. Therefore, in the first example, the second car is acting like a stationary wall, thus meaning that the experienced force is that of 50 mph.

/physics

You're lucky you don't live in Australia. On a daily basis I see shocking drivers...

You're better off hitting a parked car than hitting the same car coming at you at 50mph. There's a lot more total energy to be absorbed.

[pocaracas]

Opposing velocity vectors aren't additive like that. Two people going at 50 mph toward each other will experience a crash of 50 mph. This is proven by thinking of two situations:

1) two cars crashing at 50 mph
2) a car crashing into a sturdy wall at 50 mph

Both will result in that car being stationary after the crash. In the case of the wall, it means the wall supplied a force equal, but opposite, to the car's force, leaving it stationary. The wall wasn't moving though. Therefore, in the first example, the second car is acting like a stationary wall, thus meaning that the experienced force is that of 50 mph.

/physics

You're lucky you don't live in Australia. On a daily basis I see shocking drivers...

You're better off hitting a parked car than hitting the same car coming at you at 50mph. There's a lot more total energy to be absorbed.

The comparison was with a wall, not another car.