The first collision is the most associated with crashes. With the advancement of safety features, most vehicles are designed to crush well and absorb a significant portion of the kinetic energy involved in the crash which helps protect the more fragile, human occupants. Tip: if you experience a situation with an on-coming collision, it is better to veer into an object that gives (a bush, for example) which can absorb some of the energy. Crashing head-on into a vehicle, pole or tree is a recipe for disaster.

Occupants in the vehicle are still moving at the same speed that the vehicle was traveling at the moment of impact . The occupant will only stop once they connect with an outside force. While the vehicle’s kinetic energy is being reduced in the first collision, the human occupants are still moving at the same speed and direction that the car was initially until they hit an object that causes their forward motion to stop. This is one of the important reasons that seatbelts save lives. Occupants in a crash without a seat belt will move forward until they strike something such as a steering wheel, dashboard or window. However, they could also be ejected from the vehicle and crash into a tree or concrete barrier. Occupants that hit any of these objects have their motion stopped almost instantaneously. The sudden disbursement of energy from the occupants usually results in the body being crushed, which is why unbuckled occupants have such a significant risk of death in a car accident.