Re:A Fighter Pilot’s Guide to Surviving on the Roads (2012) ...
by wlesieutre on Sunday September 04, 2016 @01:00PM
(#12425386)
> In the extreme angle case, suppose two vehicle are traveling on a freeway side-by-side and move together very slowly just to give each other a light tap. The forward motion relative to the ground is irrelevant; the impact is the same as, say, slowly backing into a parked car, except that it's sideways. Looking out the side window, the other car is in the same spot the whole time and just gets closer.
In terms of their relative motion, sure. There are other factors though, like if you're going 70 MPH and the relatively soft hit from the side spins your car off axis.
If your car was stopped, no big deal, you're pointed in a different direction. But since your car is moving and its wheels are no longer parallel to the direction of travel, you're going to spin/slide down the highway at 65 mph.
Even if the car doesn't spin from the impact, most drivers are going to react to noticing that someone just changed lanes into their car by swerving, which is again not a great situation at highway speeds.
In terms of their relative motion, sure. There are other factors though, like if you're going 70 MPH and the relatively soft hit from the side spins your car off axis.
If your car was stopped, no big deal, you're pointed in a different direction. But since your car is moving and its wheels are no longer parallel to the direction of travel, you're going to spin/slide down the highway at 65 mph.
Even if the car doesn't spin from the impact, most drivers are going to react to noticing that someone just changed lanes into their car by swerving, which is again not a great situation at highway speeds.