Car Safety Tip

The streets are quite slick out there this time of year. This is also the time we see more people injured in motor vehicle accidents. Injuries don’t only occur at high speeds, minor fender-benders can result in whiplash injuries, headaches and more. To help protect yourself this winter, here is a quick safety tip to help avoid head and neck injuries.

The fans of the TV show the Duke of Hazzard may remember the famous 1969 Dodge Charger nicknamed the ‘General Lee’ for it’s bright orange paint job and ability to jump miles on end. The car however was not very safe, especially in the front seats as you can see below:

If you look closely, you can see that not only is there no ABS, airbags, Satellite Radio or GPS,  there are no headrests! This is a problem because if you were to be involved in a collision, the head and neck would be quite injured.

This is after all Newton’s fault, according to his first law, a body in motion stays in motion. Your torso will be stopped at the time of the impact by your seatbelt, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about the head.

The ideal situation would be to strap a seatbelt across the forehead. But this would not be ideal as the tan line would look awkward, so the best solution we have to date is a well positioned headrest.

To avoid injury to this sensitive region of the spine be sure to adjust your headrest as follows:

• The top of the head should line up with the top of the headrest to ensure proper placement in the event of an accident. 
• Your head should not be more than four inches from the headrest, otherwise in the event of a collision your spine could be injured
• The backrest should provide enough support to help keep you sitting upright. If you are slouching in your car seat consider a lumbar support. Fore information click here.

This simple tip can help save you pain and injury and takes only a few seconds to set up correctly!

Wishing you all a safe drive!

Dr Malik