Why Do Cars Somersault?

ROAD SAFETY ARTICLE JONAS AGWU

I am bereaved. And I am very sad. I am sad because I lost a good friend recently and the circumstances of his death bleeds my heart .I know I am not God and no man is God. I know I couldn’t have stopped the crash except God but I wish the circumstances of his death was different. I wish he was bed-ridden, hospitalized, struggling to live. I am so sorry but I just can’t think straight and so I don’t even know the best way to paint the circumstances behind his death.

But I am told he died without a struggle even though I knew him as a fighter. I wish as friends and acquaintances, we had the opportunity to rally around him to help, to donate blood, to raise cash just to see how we could arm-twist God’s divine hands for a stroke of miracle; so he could live again: for days, weeks and maybe months to at least say goodbye to his loved ones and have us his acquaintances, say a farewell prayer.

Since Tim’s death (not real name), I have had cause to counsel my friends and staff and even those who call themselves my enemies that life truly as captured in Ecclesiastes 1: 2 in the Holy bible where it said, ’vanity upon vanity, saith the Preacher, vanity upon vanity, all is vanity’. The Holy Koran also re-echoes that all about life is vanity. Or how do you explain going through all the motions of life’s challenges, successes and ultimately rising to be counted in your chosen field only to kiss this world goodbye without even a clue? Please kindly forgive my emotions. I am truly heart broken, traumatized, anguished, pained and distressed.

Since it happened I have interrogated my friends and colleagues on the causative factors. Was it excessive speeding which is forbidden by the 2012 National Road Traffic Regulations. The appropriate section 152 (1) states that ‘’a person shall not drive a vehicle on any public road in excess of the prescribed speed limit provided in Schedule 8 to these regulations or as may be published from time to time by the Commission. It further states that… no person shall drive a vehicle on any public road in excess of the speed limit indicated by an appropriate road traffic sign in respect of that road?

Was he properly strapped as provided by section 126 (1) of the same Regulations which states that,’’ every vehicle shall have fitted in the front and rear seats, seat belts and child safety seats which shall be securely worn by the driver and the other occupants of the vehicle while the vehicle is on motion . The provision further states that the driver of a motor vehicle shall be responsible for the children who are passengers in such a vehicle and shall ensure the proper use of child locks in every vehicle where one is installed .The driver shall also ensure the proper use of child safety seats for every child that is 7 years and below and ensure that child seats are not installed in the front row of any vehicle. Only a child with medical report that says it is medically inadvisable shall be exempted from wearing a seat belt?

I also pondered on the possibility of him driving under the influence of alcohol or any other substance in contravention of section 174 (1). It states that ‘’ no person shall drive a vehicle or occupy the driver’s seat of any vehicle on a public road while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a drug having a narcotic effect while the engine is running. The prescribed limit of alcohol permitted is 0.5 grammes in 100 millilitres of alcohol or 80 milligrams in 100 millilitres of urine or blood test which shall be determined by use of a breath analyzer to be conducted by a member of the Corps or in case of urine or blood test by a medical officer.

The Regulations spells out penalties but I must state here that irrespective of the penalties for violation, the biggest penalty is the loss of your life. I equally pondered on the impact that killed him on the spot before rescue could reach out to him. These and many other questions are pondering my mind even though I know that it can’t and won’t bring him back. So are there lessons for us the living to learn? There are indeed plenty of lessons if you ask me especially for the living. This is why I have for the first time in my career chosen to treat a tragic case which still hurts. My usual policy is to let the mourning cease before I bring up the matter. But I just believe this is the best time to focus on the issue of cars somersaulting.

So what do we mean by car somersault? Why do they happen? I don’t know if you have ever driven and a car suddenly out of nowhere, flip in the air, with some doing full 360 or others cascading off into barriers. But why do cars have to suddenly somersault despite factory tests by car manufacturers to ascertain their safety for numerous clients.

Somersaulting of a car is a major source of fatal road traffic crashes just like the one that killed my friend. A car is said to somersault if the driver loses control of the vehicle and the vehicle slips off the road without stopping. In some cases it might come to an abrupt stop while in other cases, the vehicle may start rolling either in its sideways or its forward direction.

There are major factors responsible for somersaulting of cars. One of these factors is what car experts will call the pitch angle of the car which is the angle of its nose relative to the tarmac (road) below it. The pitch angle can either be positive or negative. A positive pitch angle means the car is slightly facing upwards to the sky while a negative pitch angle is when the car is slightly downwards into the road, maximizing the frontal area of a car and increasing downforce. The second factor for car somersault is the car design.