We were rear ended at about 40 mph while we were stopped. So pretty serious. Piper was RFing in her tethered Advantage. She woke up crying, that was it. Nathan and I were both fine. Sore the next day, but fine. I think Piper was even less sore than we were. Though she was relaxed and Nathan and I tensed at the last second knowing what was coming.
Most rear enders aren't very serious. They account for about 4% of SERIOUS collisions. They are certainly very common (at least for half of the people involved. For the rear ender it's a frontal collision) but they're rarely serious. Normally you're moving at a relatively close rate of speed. Either stopped and 5mph in a parking lot, or 60 and 45 in traffic, something like that. A pretty serious rear ender is like ours or worse, where we were stopped and the car behind us hit us between 35 and 40 mph (at a guess, he was also stopped and was rear ended by a guy with 0.20 BAC and going 45 mph). Probably the worst rear ender is one where you're stopped and you get hit by someone doing real highway speed, 65/70 mph. Which has happened (
http://myangelsaliandpeanut.tripod.com/id5.html). However, that's, about as serious as you can get. And you have the trunk space between the child and impact. There's a huge crumple zone there on modern cars.
Frontal collisions are the most likely to be serious (not the most serious, but you're more likely to be involved in one, and therefore more likely to have a serious crash that is a frontal one. And remember, if you T bone someone it's a frontal for you and lateral for them). You're usually traveling opposite of the person you hit, and it's your speed PLUS their speed (versus minus their speed for a rear ender). So if you're doing 60 and they're doing 45, same as the scenario above, instead of having a 15mph collision you now have a 105 mph collision. Even the WORST rear ender will be a 70 mph collision.
So you're playing the odds. The chances of you being involved in a serious rear ender is about 4% (not the chances of a rear ender, but a SERIOUS rear ender). The chances of you being involved in a serious frontal collision is much higher, I think about 80% (that one I'd have to get my book out and look up, but I think that's how it breaks down). You're less likely to be involved in a lateral collision, but if you are it's more likely to be serious. There's simply no padding between you and the other person. Airbags are helping, but it's a simple size matter. You have an engine that will disintegrate in front of you in a modern car; a trunk that will disappear behind you. To the sides, even with airbags you still only have about six inches.
Rear facing provides protection most of all against lateral crashes. The way the seat reacts to the crash is different than when it's FFing. So RFing you're most protected from frontal and lateral crashes, the two that are most likely to be severe. No sense trying to protect for the one that's least likely to harm you. It's like putting on rain boots and no sunscreen while you wear your bikini to the beach. Sure, it may rain while you're out, but you're much more likely to get sunburn and end up hurt.
Wendy
