If he's moving fast to push someone out of the way then there's a massive possibility that the driver sees them at the last minute and slams his brakes on, therefore reducing his speed. Not by enough to stop before hitting your character but enough to reduce the impact therefore resulting in less life-threatening injuries.
There's a chance that he nearly gets out of the way and ends up being clipped on the leg by the front wing of the car. This could, I guess, result in a leg that's broken in a few places and general cuts and bruises from the fall. He would be kept in hospital for a while to asses the broken leg, he may have surgery and have to have a metal frame attached to his leg until the bone starts to heal and knit itself back together. After that, it might be a plaster cast and/or crutches and physiotherapy for the walking. I'm guessing he would have some kind of therapy on his other leg, just to stop the muscles wasting away while he is off his feet but I'm not sure about that. You would have to look that up on a medical website, or maybe someone else on the forum can fill in any blanks. x
Hmm that sounds believable enough, actually. Do you think he would skid on the road a bit from the impact or sort of just fall flat and that's the end of that?
I think the force of the hit on his leg would cause him to spin 180 degrees, he would lose his balance and start to fall backwards. As he falls, he continues to spin another 90 degrees and hits the road on his side, so banged elbow/hip/shoulder and possibly a grazed ear. Once on the ground, he would roll again and stop once on his back. So he could bump the front of his head on the ground, slight chance he would cut or even break his nose and general cuts to hands as he instinctively puts them out to break his fall, stop himself rolling.
Hi there. If you are interested, I have an excellent source for traffic accident data. My father is retired California Highway Patrol and for the last 15 years has been the Coordinator for a police academy here in California. If you would like to "interview" him, he LOVES to talk shop. Feel free to PM me and I will connect you two. Just a thought.
As specific as you want! I was raised around the gore. We had the monthly CHP magazines on our coffee table, complete with crime scene photos. I knew all about horrible car accidents long before I even dreamed of driving. (And my brother has followed in his footsteps.)
So right now I'm trying to figure out what injuries a really skinny, 5'7" tall male high school student would suffer from being struck by a late-to-work Honda Civic type car driver doing anywhere between 25-40 mph in a residential area. (As mentioned before) my character pushed a classmate out of the way and took the hit, how banged up is he going to get? Is a broken leg and some bad scrapes believable enough? Also I know the speed range I mentioned is a bit wide, so I guess I would need to know how badly he would be injured on both the higher and lower ends of that spectrum. Thanks for helping me with this, BTW. c:
Hi @sinnernear, I said I would get back to you after speaking with my Dad and I apologize for the delay. Life got busy @A.M.P. , @cutecat22 , @jazzabel and @ddavidv ALL gave great suggestions and after speaking with my Dad, he concurs. I shared with him your scenio and his initial response was, “Anything can happen and therefore anything is believeable.” If you were writing about an accident as a medical mystery or crime mystery, you may want to get into specifics, which said by another, is all about physics. There are so many variables involved. Not just the physical characteristics of the victim, but the vehicle(s) involved, the neighborhood, the road, the weather, the time of day, etc. Too many variables to define an outcome. I would stay general, write out your accident as you want it to unfold, give him/her whatever injuries you want, and it will be believable, if it is well written. As posted above, the victim could be thrown forward, or knocked down, or thrown back into the windshield. A head injury is likely, even unconsciousness, and death. And yes, a concussion and broken leg might be all of it, too. My dad suggested that if you want to write a specific scenario, with specifics injuries, he’d be glad to help. But all variables would need to be addressed. Sorry I couldn't help more, but thank you for asking the question. I learned something discussing this with my Dad. Take care.
Ummm, Mod...Can you please delete ^^^ attachment above? It's actually a heading of another document I had opened at the time I copied my post over. Thanks in advance!
I think, mostly neck, face, head and ribs are injured or broken. Of course it dependent on the type of accident. Meanwhile, you have to point in your story, the airbag of the car didn't work properly.
I think cutecat has pretty much given you the rudimentary information you need. Based on whether it was a glancing blow or a head-on impact; did the person see the car coming or were they taken by surprise (if your muscles tense, you are more likely to sustain more severe injuries); etc. All of this is relevant to the type and severity of the injuries. I just got finished with a proofread on a ms where the MC was struck by an oncoming vehicle driven by a guy intent on reducing the world population by one. MC leaps to avoid the impact but misses and is struck a glancing blow which results in a cracked rib, various cuts and bruises, and - OUCH - a dislocated shoulder. All of these are plausible injuries. But... so is paralysis, amnesia, severe debilitating concussion, blindness, broken bones (just about any one in the body), AND cuts, abrasions, and one really pissed-off pedestrian! It all depends on how you present.
