Most traffic crashes take place in about three seconds. That’s from the first harmful event until the impact.
About half that time is for the driver to perceive the danger and react. The rest is travel to the crash. It can be longer if one of the vehicles skids a distance before impact. It can be shorter at low speed.
The three seconds does not count the time it takes for vehicles after the crash to travel to their final resting point. In some cases, the vehicles stop right there, but in others, they may be deflected and skid, roll over or roll on for a substantial distance.
In one case, a motorcyclist went under a truck trailer. Unfortunately, he hit the truck trailer with his head. He separated from the motorcycle and slid a short distance. The motorcycle proceeded for several hundred yards with the engine running. The bike didn’t stop until it hit an embankment on the other side of a small canyon. He survived with head and neck injuries and sued the truck company. The truck was undamaged.
Monday there was a rather spectacular crash at LaGuardia Airport. This one did not involve automobiles or a motorcycle, but the same three-second rule seems to apply. An overworked air traffic controller was unable to stop a fire truck that was proceeding to a different incident that necessitated crossing the runway and a particular location.
The air traffic controller attempted to stop the fire truck, but for someone unknown reason, the fire truck driver did not respond within the few seconds available. The truck was crossing the runway at an angle, such that the firetruck driver could not see the approaching airplane concealed by the truck body behind his right shoulder in time.
The airplane was at its normal landing speed of about 100 miles an hour at a certain point in time about three seconds before the crash. Of course, the firetruck was moving at lower speed. The event was irreversible once the firetruck was on the runway. There was little the pilot could do but maximum braking.
The two pilots were killed. One flight attendant was seriously injured. Forty-three were hospitalized. The airplane and the firetruck were seriously damaged, and the runway will be closed for days.
Last Sunday here in Captain Cook, a pedestrian was almost killed on Highway 11, aka Mamalahoa Highway, aka 91直播 Belt Road. According to witnesses, the pedestrian leaped into the path of a pickup. From the first harmful event to the impact was a minor fraction of a second. Nothing the driver could do. Traffic was backed up for hours. The victim was put on life-support in Honolulu — 150 miles away.
If you knock a glass off your kitchen counter by accident, it only takes a half a second for that glass to hit the floor. If you’re lucky, the glass will bounce, and you’ll forget about it. If you’re less than lucky, the glass will shatter, and then you spend several minutes cleaning up the bits.
If the glass was a free jelly jar glass from the gas station promotion, things are pretty much finished. But suppose the glass was a family heirloom treasured by family members. There may be some repercussions, some blaming, some crying maybe, some need to apologize to extended family members. All because in a moment of inattention, someone knocked a glass off the counter.
In every case, the harmful incident happens very quickly. It can be as little as the 300 milliseconds of the actual crash to maybe 30 seconds for one of the vehicles to come to their final resting point, like the motorcycle. The consequences of that brief incident can last for hours or a lifetime for the injured pedestrian. The driver, in Captain Cook, who was apparently blameless will have this emotional trauma that could last many years and probably litigation, too.
Dropping bombs, although not usually an accident, is similar. Once launched, the bomb may be harmlessly airborne for over an hour, if it’s a cruise missile. The explosion is virtually instantaneous. Consequential damage might occur in minutes as structures collapse. The repercussions can be devastating and take years to repair. It could also be war that goes on even longer or, if involving certain other cultures like in the Middle East, centuries.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer and safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for 91直播. Feedback is encouraged at obenskik@gmail.com.
