Same - hitting the head on the back of the seat, the doorframe, whatever was solid.
I have no idea what type of car they were riding in, nor the path of the car after impacting the tree, but if you look at most cars today (not SUVs or vans) the back of the front seats are so close to the back seat that someone violently thrown forward will have their head into the back of the seat even with a shoulder harness. Add to that the usual scenario that the car spins somewhat immediately before or upon impact, and you have the scenario where the person gets thrown violently forward then sideways.
I know several people who had these types of injuries, one of whom died from brain stem injuries; they were all wearing shoulder harnesses and all impacted immovable objects (oncoming car, bridge abutment, telephone pole) at speeds in excess of 45 mph. Two accidents were at speeds over 60 mph.
Go back to your h.s. physics class and refresh your memory on speed, velocity, trajectory, and force. It’s sobering.
An article posted on here previously said they were in an SUV.
Absolutely not true! That is why we have shoulder harnesses - to prevent the upper body from moving forward. Could you have a neck injury from the noggin moving forward while the shoulders are restrained? Yes. But will your HEAD move violently forward and impact the seats, etc? No.
Also, I believe they were in an SUV. The most likely scenario is that the SUV attacked them out of malice, but that is just a guess...
I saw a photo of the car on the internet. The left side hit the tree broadside and the middle door section became a V into the vehicle. Gemma would have been hit by the infolding door/window/doorframe exactly in the left orbital and cranial area. It’s possibe that without a seatbelt, she wouldn’t even be alive.
I haven’t seen that photo again, but at the time it was posted as the crash vehicle. A new model silver Ford Explorer.
The car must have been flying to have sustained so much damage. The storyline is that the car met with black ice, yet another Freeper has posted the weather history in Baltimore for that day and the temp was in the mid-40’s.
They were injured in an SUV, not an ordinary car. Also, see post 169; it looks like they were thrown from the vehicle, meaning their parents probably didn’t take care to make sure they were restrained.
Race car injury that inspired the Hans device, and contributed to or caused the death of Dale Earnhardt. I’m late to this thread so someone down the line has probably already replied in this vain.