Car accidents in Virginia can quickly harm you or those you love, and secondary collisions may make the situation even worse. After a vehicle hits something, no one can precisely calculate what else might be hit within the seconds immediately following. The damages of a secondary crash are more extreme than those from initial impact in some cases. Here’s an overview of what secondary collisions are and why they are dangerous.
Engaged equipment
The first impact a vehicle makes tends to engage all if not most of its safety equipment. This puts your safety at risk should another impact come. Once your airbags have deployed, for example, they aren’t sent out again during the impact of another peripheral object.
Driver consciousness
Even when a driver remains conscious, they might lack the coordination to manage their vehicle with absolute safety. Drivers who go unconscious are often the cause of more injury or accidents being caused by their vehicles. Poor control results in secondary crashes where the initial impact might have been less than later ones. If a driver’s consciousness did not cause the first crash, it can be the cause of a second one.
Common inertia
Inertia, being residual energy, is one of the major forces behind secondary collisions. A vehicle that hits another keeps moving due to the residual effects of inertia. The same force that makes you lean left or right when turning is enough to keep a car plowing forward and hit everything it encounters.
Secondary accidents can occur without you being at fault. However, driving defensively can help you prevent them. Everything that you can do to remain safe on the road is worthwhile.
