If you're about to be rear-ended do you... (1 Viewer)

[Drew Bethel]

1. Apply the brake

2. Release the brake.

I once released the brake and got knocked into a truck, with an equal amount of damage in the front and rear.

 

[Chuck C]

That's a good question...either way, the person that rear ends you pays for both rear AND frontal damage (that was my case).

 

[ThomasC]

hmm...
i'd say it's a lose-lose situation. if you apply the brake, i'm guessing the force of the rear-ending would be stronger than if you released the brake, thus giving you (really bad) whiplash. so if you'd rather risk yourself rather than the car, apply the brake. but i'm guessing some physicist is about to prove me wrong.
if you release the brake and you hit the guy in front of you, according to my driving instructor (gasp! i actually learned something from him! ), you have to pay for the damage you caused him, but i think the guy that rear-ended you still has to pay for your damage. my driving instructor said that you should always be able to see the bottom of the tires of the car in front of you so if you get rear-ended and you've completely stopped, you shouldn't hit the automobile in front of you. but in the end, i think it all depends on how fast the car behind you is going.

 

[Philip_G]

you hope you're on a motorcyle and pull next to or betweenthe cars in front of you, or just run the light

 

[Malcolm R]

Some current discussion about this very subject can be found here.

 

[BrianW]

i'd say it's a lose-lose situation. if you apply the brake, i'm guessing the force of the rear-ending would be stronger than if you released the brake, thus giving you (really bad) whiplash. so if you'd rather risk yourself rather than the car, apply the brake. but i'm guessing some physicist is about to prove me wrong.

Although your analysis of the forces involved is incorrect, your ability to predict the future is quite amazing.
You are partly correct in that applying the brake will result in a more forceful collision as far as your car is concerned. But for the occupants, this is not automatically a bad thing. If you apply the brake, then a little bit more energy will be absorbed by the car, but a little bit less energy will be absorbed by your body. The less your car accelerates (by crumpling, skidding, or whatever) as a result of the impact, the less injury you're likely to sustain.
On the other hand, applying the brakes, since it diminishes your car's acceleration, will increase the deceleration of the car behind you, which will result in the body of the driver crashing into you absorbing more energy.
For me, it wouldn't be a tough choice.

 

[Philip_G]

The less your car accelerates (by crumpling, skidding, or whatever) as a result of the impact, the less injury you're likely to sustain.

Damn, beat me to it. to put it another way,
the whiplash comes from the sudden acceleration (or decceleration if you hit something)of the car, and the car trying to move out from under you. The body comes along because it's pressed to a seat, but the head isn't.

 

[Cam S]

I just kept my foot on the brake when I got rear-ended by a truck doing 60kmh, but then again, I didn't even see him coming behind me and I had my foot on the brake anyways.

 

[Todd Hochard]

My only gut reaction is to push my head back against the headrest, HARD.

 

[Clinton McClure]

That's 37.28227 mph for all our non-metric friends.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I was rear ended about a year ago and my involuntary reaction was to press down on the brake as hard as I could. Had I not done so I probably would have hit the car in front of me.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'd rather deal with one collision, than two, if I could help it, so I'd step on the brake, and do when Todd would do, try and keep my head as firmly on the headrest as possible.

 

[TonyD]

i was rear ended twice the first time i didnt have a chance to brake or move it was too fast for me to react.

my car was totaled and i did hit the car in front of me.
i did not have to pay for the car i hit because the car behind me caused the hit. but i believe if i pulled up and hit the car first then the carbehind me hit us then i would be responsible for the car in front ...but i doubt that the car behind would be able to prove that he didn't cause both hits.

the second time i saw the van coming and was at a stop sign, first. so i had time to pull up further into the intersection just enough so the van didn't impact hard enough to damage my car too much

 

[Grant B]

I was a passenger when the truck hit us at 70+mph (police said he was doing 90+ when he hit the brakes)
Even with a head rest and seatbelts, crumblezone, your brain basically crashes into the skull (so the doctors say)
Dont remember the next 2 years and not alot from the next 2 after that. Police was surprised to see anyone alive so I guess I was lucky

 

[Jeremy Illingworth]

my driving instructor said that you should always be able to see the bottom of the tires of the car in front of you

Grandpa used to always say that too, but I think its a poor rule. If you go by that then short drivers don't need to leave as much room as tall drivers. And you can part closer to a little compact hatchback than to a 76 Olds with five feet of trunk. Or you could part as close as you want to a jacked up pickup but not within twenty feet of a lowrider.

jeremy

 

[Benjamin_L]

if you release the brake and you hit the guy in front of you, according to my driving instructor... you have to pay for the damage you caused him, but i think the guy that rear-ended you still has to pay for your damage.

While that might be true in Ohio and California, I think the law varies on this by state.
In my case, I was stopped in a long line of cars at a red light when the driver of a BMW SUV was playing with his radio and slammed into the car behind mine. The woman immediately behind me then slammed into me, and I followed suit into the lady ahead of me. I was maybe 3-4 feet behind the car in front of me and at a dead stop, and afterwards the letters of her license plate were literally on my bumper.
The driver of the BMW cited for reckless driving or some similar charge and wound up paying for new bumpers for all vehicles involved plus medical bills (nothing serious, fortunately).
People. :rolleyes

 

[CameronS]

I was rear ended earlier this year. My car was at a full stop position and as I was waiting to turn, an SUV hit me in the rear/right rear corner going 45 mph. I never saw it coming, but as far as I know, I held the brake the entire time. Luckily there was no one in front of me or coming in the opposite direction, because my car did a 180 degree turn in the middle of the road.

 

[Stephen_Opipari]

I got rear-ended by someone who had a seizure about 10 years ago. I got hit at a stop light and he was doing about 40. Got hit so hard that I released the break and went across the intersection. Luckily there was no crossing traffic or I would have been T-boned as well.

As far as following distance. I try to keep with the 2 to 3 second rule that is in the 'What Every Driver Must Know' book. It accounts for speed so you are a farther distance from the vehicle in front of you when you have a longer breaking distance and such. Unfortunately, keeping that rule causes people to constantly cut in front of you since you have a car or two length in front of you at all times and no one follows rules anymore...

 

[Alex Spindler]

Wow Grant. I hope there were few other lasting effects. That sounds like some serious trauma there.

Personally, I couldn't think of much worse to do than not have on the brakes. With the brakes off, you will go wherever the collision is sending you. Considering that you are likely stopped, I would assume that will be into an intersection with cross traffic. Without the extra stopping power of the brake, you'll be going into one heck of a pinball game (if you aren't headed there already).

So, I'm for braking in preparation for an impact.

 

[MickeS]

Jeremy, I think it's just a general rule of thumb, and not to be analyzed in detail like that.
Stephen, I go by the 3-second rule too, and yes it's incredibly frustrating because people keep squeezing in in front of me... but I do it anyway, because it is the best way I know to avoid rear-ending someone. If someone pulls in front of me, I just slow down a little bit until I'm at safe distance again.