Why Is Speed So Critical

What do we know about kinetic energy, the (almost) universal direct cause of injury in a crash on the road We have known for more than three centuries—since Isaac Newton described the laws of motion in the seventeenth century—that the amount of kinetic energy generated by a moving object is a function of halfihe mass (the weight) of the object multiplied by the square (multiplying the number by itself) of its velocity (speed), so speed is far and away the key determinant of the amount of the force unleashed in a crash. 

Here are just a few of the myriad traffic safety examples of attempts to absorb kinetic energy as it is released in a crash before it impacts the body  

Eliminating Serious Injury and Death from Road Transport 

There have also been many attempts to reduce the likelihood that there will be a collision involving large amounts of kinetic energy. Obviously, if there is no collision, kinetic energy remains potential and therefore benign. Here are a few examples  

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