Texas Police Officers Warn About Items in Your Car During Crashes

The objects inside your car can be just as dangerous to you as those outside your vehicle when you’re involved in a crash. According to an article on KXII, many everyday articles that you may find in your vehicle can become very dangerous, particularly if they become airborne during an accident.
In the article, a police lieutenant notes that the chances of being injured in a car accident by something flying around inside the vehicle go up as the severity of the accident increases.

Physics

The physics of how objects within another moving object react to changes in speed or direction are very complex. One of the easier concepts to understand, however, is noted in the article. When you have something in your car that isn’t tied down and you’re traveling at 35 miles per hour, that object is also traveling at 35 miles per hour. If you need to stop suddenly or if you strike another vehicle or a fixed object, the object inside your car is going to continue traveling at 35 miles per hour until it, too, collides with something that causes it to stop. Unfortunately, what it ends up striking could be you.

Be smart

One easy way to address this problem is to simply think about what the things in your car could do to you if they became airborne. For instance, if you have one of the steering wheel club anti-theft devices sitting in the back window and you strike something, you could potentially have a very heavy, metal projectile flying at your head at whatever speed you were traveling before your vehicle was stopped.
Putting things on the floor is generally advisable, according to the article. This doesn’t make the situation entirely safe, however. The best way to address these types of safety issues is to think about lessening the chances that you will be injured. It may not be possible to completely eliminate the chances that you will be injured. Seat belts, for example, don’t completely guarantee that you’ll survive a car accident but they greatly increase your chances and are, therefore, sensible to use.
Remember that anything in your vehicle that has a clear path of travel to the driver or one of the passengers is particularly dangerous. If you can, place objects on the floor in the back of the vehicle.
If you suffer injuries due to being involved in a car accident, contact a Dallas car accident attorney about your legal options.