4 ms·

Casual readers will want page 3 for a description of the different positions and page 17 for a discussion of the results. The tldr is that the best seems to be:

Casual readers will want page 3 for a description of the different positions and page 17 for a discussion of the results. The tldr is that the best seems to be: head against the seat in front of you, arms down by the lower legs. The fact that any brace position won't help in a head on collision and the foolish inference that it is therefore at best pointless and at worst some kind of ghoulish conspiracy (to maintain dental records, to ensure quick deaths yada yada) is a real bugbear of mine. Same goes for the criticism of "hide under a table during a nuclear attack". With any catastrophe, there are unavoidable deaths from the initial impact and loads of avoidable deaths and injuries from falling debris, glass shards, smoke inhalation etc. These measures are about the latter.

simonbarker87 2y ago
I’m sure during history class we looked at an analysis of some kind around Japanese who survived the nuclear bombs. At a certain distance from the center being sat down below a window was enough to survive whereas stood up in the same location would be fatal. Said history class was 25 years ago though so might be in accurate or out of date.
- kqr 2y ago
  There's also this: > A fourth-grade teacher in Chelyabinsk, Yulia Karbysheva, was hailed as a hero after saving 44 children from imploding window glass cuts. Despite not knowing the origin of the intense flash of light, Karbysheva thought it prudent to take precautionary measures by ordering her students to stay away from the room's windows and to perform a duck and cover maneuver and then to leave the building. Karbysheva, who remained standing, was seriously lacerated when the blast arrived and window glass severed a tendon in one of her arms and left thigh; none of her students, whom she ordered to hide under their desks, suffered cuts. The teacher was taken to a hospital which received 112 people that day. The majority of the patients were suffering from cuts. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor
- jvanderbot 2y ago
  Speaking of bugbears. I have been fairly horrified by nuclear war and have read a ton of stuff about it. If you aren't immediately killed by a fireball, or roasted by radiated heat, and are outside the "everything gets blown down" radius, it seems the major immediate danger is extreme winds from the blast. (Though radiated heat is also a line of sight effect) So it absolutely makes sense that you'd want to be in a position that prevents all kinds of glass and debris impact, let alone getting thrown yourself. My mental model is "instant tornado" and since I'm in the north, we all have basements to run to.
  - Aeolun 2y ago
    I love the ‘instant tornado’ image.

simonbarker87 2y ago

I’m sure during history class we looked at an analysis of some kind around Japanese who survived the nuclear bombs. At a certain distance from the center being sat down below a window was enough to survive whereas stood up in the same location would be fatal. Said history class was 25 years ago though so might be in accurate or out of date.

kqr 2y ago
There's also this: > A fourth-grade teacher in Chelyabinsk, Yulia Karbysheva, was hailed as a hero after saving 44 children from imploding window glass cuts. Despite not knowing the origin of the intense flash of light, Karbysheva thought it prudent to take precautionary measures by ordering her students to stay away from the room's windows and to perform a duck and cover maneuver and then to leave the building. Karbysheva, who remained standing, was seriously lacerated when the blast arrived and window glass severed a tendon in one of her arms and left thigh; none of her students, whom she ordered to hide under their desks, suffered cuts. The teacher was taken to a hospital which received 112 people that day. The majority of the patients were suffering from cuts. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor
jvanderbot 2y ago
Speaking of bugbears. I have been fairly horrified by nuclear war and have read a ton of stuff about it. If you aren't immediately killed by a fireball, or roasted by radiated heat, and are outside the "everything gets blown down" radius, it seems the major immediate danger is extreme winds from the blast. (Though radiated heat is also a line of sight effect) So it absolutely makes sense that you'd want to be in a position that prevents all kinds of glass and debris impact, let alone getting thrown yourself. My mental model is "instant tornado" and since I'm in the north, we all have basements to run to.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  I love the ‘instant tornado’ image.