What actually deads you? *Morbid thread alert*

[Silver_Fox]

Apologies if this has been posted before...

What actually kills you in a motorcycle accident? I've seen a few videos where I'd expect broken bones, but not death, for example this...

(FF to 2:49)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq2xStb0R-c

Getting flattened by a lorry is self explanatory, but these videos? Organ rupture? Can someone explain the biology behind things?
____________________
CBR600 F3 FV
CG125

[CaNsA]

[chickenstrip]

It's amazing what extent of damage the human body can sustain, and still one lives. On the other hand, injuries that some folks survive, kill others. The margins are very slim. It also depends on how quickly you are treated, and what treatment you receive. Bit of a lottery really.
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[Andy_Pagin]

I think there's basically two ways to die, you either hit something so hard it causes massive structural damage to your body which you can't survive, or you stop instantly (as in this video) but the mass of kinetic energy that projected you doesn't just disappear, it bounces your entire body structure around as it dissipates, stalls your heart and overloads your central nervous system. Ironically if that biker had gone over the top of the car and rolled a hundred yards down the rock hard tarmac instead of stopping dead on the soft grass he might have survived.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[chickenstrip]

[M.C]

[Hondaondabrai...]

This was the 1st thing to pop into my head, an old video I remember.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VruWHHEnZGw
(vid is safe... mick doohans in it)

Usually its car drivers that didnt see you and your sudden stop = massive internal bleeding.
____________________
blade

[temeluchus]

For a deeper understanding of why people die when they strike a firm medium at speed, one should contemplate Newton's third law of motion.

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-4/Newton-s-Third-Law
____________________
Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[Rogerborg]

[techsnap]

[stinkwheel]

It's the deceleration that does it. All about decelleration which is measured in G units.

So parts of your body are still moving while others are stopped.

Classic example is with head trauma. The skull comes to an abrupt halt when you hit the ground, the brain inside it is still doing 15mph. It hits the inside of the skull and deforms. It can damage enough cells to stop working and you die immediately. It can also cause bleeding and swelling. If that gets too severe, the back part of your brain (the brainstem that controlls breathing and heart beat) is forced out of the hole in the back of the skull and you die. This can take some time.

When you hit your head inside a helmet, the polystyrene liner compresses and makes the decelleration happen over a longer period of time (microseconds count). The peak decelleration is lower, your brain experiences less G.

Same with broken bones. If one part of your leg decellerates more rapidly than the other part, it puts uneven stress on it. If that stress is over a certai level, it'll break.

Your body decelerates more quickly than your internal organs? They can be thrown about inside you and potentially burst when they hit the inside, or pull away from their blood supply. You get internal bleeding, ruptured spleen.

I have no statistics but I'd imagine most motorcycle accident deaths are due to head and spinal cord trauma or acute blood loss and hypovolaemic shock due to internal bleeding.

If you want to learn more about decelleration, read the bio of John Paul Stapp. He invented the seatbelt and proved that by adequately restraining the body (in a rear facing seat with a good harness) so it all decellerates at the same rate, enormous crashes could be survivable. He set the record by stopping a rocket powered rail sled travelling in excess of the speed of sound (the first man to do so at ground level, it wasn't a record because no return run) by running it into a water sluice. He experienced 36G of decelleration. He broke an arm and both retinas detached but later reattached.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[chickenstrip]

[Silver_Fox]

I wish I'd had both retinas detached when I saw Brad Pitt's The Tree of Life
____________________
CBR600 F3 FV
CG125

[c_dug]

The 'borg posted an interesting thingy about helmets the other week, part of that was about totting up injuries, and the likelihood of survival. It was a really long read but I found it very interesting.

If you promise to vote "out" he might be nice and repost a link
____________________
I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Conzar]

When I had my crash I hit a car head on at about 50-60, luckily I hit the front right wing and flew over the bonnet and dodged massive de-acceleration.

I flew about 8-10 meters and landed perfectly in a hedge, its luck of the draw what you hit and where you land.
____________________
Current ride: ZX6R 636 ------- Previous:KTM EXC 450 Supermoto --- ZX6R B1H --Hornet 600--CBR 600--SV650
11:05:35 Rob Fzs: i just wanna own an rd350 valve before they send us to war with durkadurkastan

[skatefreak]

Hitting a stationary large solid object whilst traveling at high speed has pretty much the same effect as being hit by a large solid object that is traveling at high speed whilst stationary...

Weird but its just the effects of acceleration/deceleration and we don't sit and ponder to long what kills people hit by speeding trains?

All pretty grim but to an extent I certainly understand the attraction to the helmet off, find lorry in a lay-by and red line it into the next world approach.

No one wants to put their loved ones through the distress of slowly degrading

[M.C]

Really morbid but what's the viking motorcycling way to go? 150mph off beachy head?

[Minty]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[Silver_Fox]

Self important tripe. I walked out too
____________________
CBR600 F3 FV
CG125

[FlightRisk]

[Silver_Fox]

This reminds me, I need to watch Conan again
____________________
CBR600 F3 FV
CG125

[Minty]

[Cadbury]

Aortic Rupture
Basically when you stop quickly, your heart still wants to keep moving, whereas your aorta (which is largely fixed), doesn't. You literally tear your heart out.

[barrkel]