Obese people more likely to die in car crashes

New Scientist ^ | March 2, 2002 | Kurt Kleiner

[Paradox]

Obese people more likely to die in car crashes

09:30 30 March 02

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition

Heavier people are more likely to be killed or seriously injured in car accidents than lighter people, according to new research.

That could mean car designers will have to build in new safety features to compensate for the extra hazards facing overweight passengers. In the US, car manufacturers have already had to redesign air bags so they inflate to lower pressures, making them less of a danger to smaller women and children. But no one yet knows what it is that puts overweight passengers at extra risk.

A study carried out in Seattle, Washington, looked at more than 26,000 people who had been involved in car crashes, and found that heavier people were at far more risk. People weighing between 100 and 119 kilograms are almost two-and-a-half times as likely to die in a crash as people weighing less than 60 kilograms.

And importantly, the same trend held up when the researchers looked at body mass index (BMI) - a measure that takes height as well as weight into account. Someone 1.8 metres tall weighing 126 kilograms would have a BMI of 39, but so would a person 1.5 metres tall weighing 88 kilograms. People are said to be obese if their BMI is 30 or over.

The study found that people with a BMI of 35 to 39 are over twice as likely to die in a crash compared with people with BMIs of about 20. It is not just total weight, but obesity itself that's dangerous.

Crash-test dummies

While they do not yet know why this is the case, the evidence is worth pursuing, says Charles Mock, a surgeon and epidemiologist at the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center in Seattle, who led the research team. He thinks one answer may be for safety authorities to use heavier crash-test dummies when certifying cars as safe to drive.

Crash tests normally use dummies that represent standard-sized males weighing about 78 kilograms. Recently, smaller crash-test dummies have also been used to represent children inside crashing cars. But larger and heavier dummies are not used, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington DC told New Scientist.

The reasons for the higher injury and death rates are far from clear. Mock speculates that car interiors might not be suitably designed for heavy people. Or obese people, with health problems such as high blood pressure or diabetes, could be finding it tougher to recover from injury.

Richard Kent, an expert in impact biomechanics at the University of Virginia, thinks the new research has established a legitimate connection between obesity and severe injury or death. Because the research used BMI data, it has not confused taller (and therefore heavier than average) people with those who are overweight.

People who are obese might also be at risk because seat belts do not hold them as securely in a crash. "For example, a large amount of [fat] tissue between the restraint system and the bony thorax acts much like a winter coat: it introduces "slack" into the restraint system and decreases its performance," Kent says.

Journal reference: Accident Analysis and Prevention (vol 34, p 221)

Kurt Kleiner

[SarahW]

Well heck, He probably had a hernia. One sharp lacerating blow plus squeezing from weight would be all it would take.

And consider this - he might have has a collagen defect, they're rather common in certain populations in the south, incl. Alabama. The skin can overstretch if tugged slowly - but will snap, literally unzip if hit the right way. Kinda like silly putty.

[flyervet]

I didn't mean to give you the impression that the man fell six inches.

What do you mean the impression that he fell six inches? You said he fell six inches moving at two miles per hour. No impression is involved. You said he fell six inches. Period.

He would have been standing up on that surface that was only six inches off the ground.

No kidding. I understood that part. I have no problem believing his belly could have burst open.

And you also have no understanding of basic anatomy. Human beings don't simply burst open unless they fall from a great height or at a great speed.

[RipSawyer]

I am glad somebody got the picture. Now can you please tell me how anyone can possibly think there is a big mystery to all this? I am literally dumbfounded by the article that says that "noone yet knows what it is that puts overweight passengers at extra risk". DUUUUUUUHHHHHHH, it seems so simple to me, am I missing something?

[go star go]

exactly. it's just basic physics. did they really need a study for this?

[RipSawyer]

This is my last comment on this. I did not say he fell six inches. Go back and read it. I said this would have been a fall from a surface no more than six inches off the ground. I neglected to mention that he would have been standing on the thing, probably because I know what the man was standing on and I sometimes forget that most people these days would not have any idea what a ground sled was. Now can you understand what I actually said? And if you don't believe that a tall, very fat man falling on his belly on a hard surface could literally split his belly then you just don't understand as much as you think you do. Best Wishes.

[crystalk]

It may be because they cannot fasten the seat belt: it won't go around them.

Also, it may be that they are run over by the spare tire, as it were.

[flyervet]

Well heck, He probably had a hernia.

An enormous hernia that ran most of the length of his body and all the way through his clothing.

And consider this - he might have has a collagen defect, they're rather common in certain populations in the south, incl. Alabama.

Actually, there are several different types of collagen defects, none of which that I've found would cause someone to "unzip" if hit the right way. Which defect are you speaking of? Anyway, I'm from Alabama, and while it's true that in our past we were known to have higher incidences of certain diseases here in the south (such as pelagra), I can assure you that if falling from a height of six inches and "unzipping" were rather common, we would have heard a lot more of this sort of story by now!

Of course, given the vigorous quality of farm life, you would expect that someone with such a severe "collagen disorder" would have had ample incidence to hit his skin in just the right way causing it to "unzip". Yet here we have a supposedly very fat man driving a single mule with a sled, a typical farm activity in early 20th century Alabama. So the man couldn't have been that fat, and it's doubtful he was that medically fragile.

[flyervet]

I neglected to mention that he would have been standing on the thing, probably because I know what the man was standing on and I sometimes forget that most people these days would not have any idea what a ground sled was.

I know what a ground sled was, and I understood the man to be standing. When an individual is said to have fallen from a certain height, that height is given as the difference between the surface they fell from and the ground. Thus someone who falls from a 100 ft cliff is said to have fallen 100 feet, not 100 feet plus the six feet he stood when he was alive.

Now can you understand what I actually said?

Yes. You said a fat man took a six inch fall at two miles per hour and "busted open like a ripe watermelon and his guts spilled out". It gets funnier and funnier every time I think about it. Not the hapless uncle, mind you, but the eager young freeper swallowing hook, line and sinker what is obviously an Alabama tall tale. I bet the good ol' boy is still chuckling to himself over your gullability.

[RipSawyer]

Okay, I said that was my last comment but you have done gone and done it now. "Eager young freeper"? I had that conversation thirty years ago and I was talking to someone younger than myself. I was honorably discharged from the Navy before that man went to Vietnam. And I still say that if you think what he described is impossible you don't understand diddly squat.

[flyervet]

Okay, so you were a gullible adult talking to a precocious good ol' boy who got you but good. There's no shame in that. Now before you make an ass out of yourself again, do a little basic reading in human physiology. Believe me, you'll thank yourself later.

[SarahW]

Sigh. I give up trying to convince you. No, all he would need is a lacerating blow to get the process started.

Well, I know more than you do about collagen defects, it seems. In fact I have a very mild form myself.

Yes, a persons skin can literally split open. And I'm not even getting to the other parts of the body that become more prone to injury and/or rupture. It isn't limited to skin.

[SarahW]

Maybe you should do the same.

[flyervet]

Sigh. I give up trying to convince you. No, all he would need is a lacerating blow to get the process started.

He fell on a flat surface. Well, I know more than you do about collagen defects, it seems. In fact I have a very mild form myself.

That's avoiding the question I asked, which was, "Which collagen disorder are you speaking of?"

BTW, if you have OI, my condolences. My neice has that and it's a living hell.

And I'm not even getting to the other parts of the body that become more prone to injury and/or rupture. It isn't limited to skin.

In the case of this particular tall tale, it would be.

[Glenn]

the do-gooders will use this information in order to fuel legislation

You people just don't get it. It's not the do-gooders. It's the people who stand to gain by making money. Insurers. Think of the number of mandated protections in your life. Look at the cost of your life/health/auto insurance now and ten years ago. You're getting screwed by greed and lawyers.

[flyervet]

I have, which is how I know that human beings don't break open like pinatas at the slightest knock or bump.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Does Rosie use a chaffeur?

[Yardstick]

Somebody page Gallagher so we can get this watermelon thing settled once and for all!

[RipSawyer]

Okay, I'm a little slow but I finally figured it out. If I were standing in a six inch deep hole just big enough for my two feet and I pitched forward onto my face my six feet and four inches of height have nothing to do with anything therefore I would be said to have levitated six inches since my body would come to rest at a height six inches above where I was standing. I am sorry it took me so long to understand. Just imagine, for all my life I have been operating under the assumption that that would be called "falling down".

[RipSawyer]

Gallagher would probably understand this a lot more than flyervet does.

[Bush2000]

to fuel legislation against fatty foods, or maybe a cheeseburger tax....

It's coming. Just wait...