the major forces in a crash are going toward the thing you hit. when you hit something with the front of your car, the major forces are throwing you forward (this is statistically the more common collision, which is what makes RFing so great!). when something hits the back of your car, major forces are going backward, which unfortunately isn't superhelpful for a RFing child.
RFing is still the way to go when possible!!!! ....just trying to help clarify.
right. that's what i was trying to clarify, without trying to dismiss the importance of RF in general.
It's still forward motion. Once you are hit from behind, you are pushed forward, right? Therefore cradling DD into her seat makes perfect sense to me! So glad no one was hurt!
you are forced to move forward with the car, relative to the ground. but relative to the car, you are pushed backwards inside the car, relative to the car. it's not the direction of motion that defines impact, it's the rate of acceleration or deceleration that's the defining factor.
when you rear-end the person in front of you, your vehicle experiences rapid
deceleration. naturally, things in motion tend to stay in motion, so objects not bolted to your car (such as the occupants) continue to move in the same direction, with a rate of deceleration less than that of the car.
when you are rear-ended, the car experiences rapid
acceleration. and just as things that are in motion tend to stay in motion, things at rest tend to stay at rest. therefore, as you are rear-ended and your car rapidly accelerates forward, objects in the car that are not bolted down want to stay at rest, which is the same as moving toward the back of the car.
(imagine a race car taking off at the green light. what happens to the driver? does he lurch into the steering wheel or does he get thrown back into his seat? he gets thrown into the back of the seat-- same as being rear-ended!!!)
I'm confused now. If I am stationary and something hits me from behind I will move forward then back. That's why people get whiplash from being rear-ended. So wouldn't a child in a rearfacing seat first move back into the shell and then rebound?
ETA: the flip flop went forward in the crash, otherwise it wouldn't have come off the OP's foot
people get whiplash because their necks are rapidly moved
back. that's why we have head restraints, which minimizes the injury. without them, there would be nothing to prevent the neck from moving even farther rearward. it's not the rebounding forward that causes the whiplash, it's the initial rearward motion.
as for the flip flop-- my interpretation from a physics perspective is that the driver's foot or leg got propelled rearward during the impact (as would be expected). the sudden rearward motion of the foot caused the foot to simply slide out of the flip flop while the flip flop was being pressed against the brake pedal. think about it-- how do you take a pair of flip flops off without using your hands? with your foot on the floor, you take the weight off, and pull your leg back. your leg slides out and the flip flop stays where it is. that's what happened here.