The human body is the limiting factor in many man-made high-speed means of transport, not technology or outright performance. In regular road cars, it’s not so much a case of dealing with high g-forces under hard racecar braking, grippy cornering or pulling a banked turn in a maneuverable jet plane that sends all the blood to your toes – the problem is crashing and the forces unleashed then.

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) Vehicle Research Center has shared a video that covers this subject, called “When Physics Meets Biology.”

They explain why some accidents produce more injuries than others, and even the fact that a simple collision with a wall is actually made up of three separate smaller ones.

It’s actually a complete training tool that can even be ordered in full DVD form, with additional content for teachers. Scroll down and check it out, but be warned, though, that it’s over twenty minutes long.

By Andrei Nedelea

Correction: The original version of this article said that NHTSA released this video when in fact, it was the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)

VIDEO