sdewolfeburns
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No! Please don't ever, ever put your feet on the dash or let anyone else do it. I am so glad you asked and are willing to read the responses from those who had the care to respond to your question.
It is not safe for ANYONE to put feet on the dashboard, EVER.
If anything, the presence of airbags makes it MORE dangerous.
(More on this shortly.)
I know someone who had a leg shattered by an airbag. She was in a car accident that came out of the blue on a day with no weather problems, no heavy traffic, no nothing but one careless driver who didn't look before peeling out of a long driveway. Her husband had just a second or two to try to try to minimize impact--had he done nothing, their car would have t-boned the careless driver.
The first thing she remembers wondering is where her leg went--she thought it had been torn clear off. She describes it, sorry for the grossness of this, as having been wrapped behind her neck with her foot dangling on her chest.
The irony here is that while the airbag may have saved her life, it is also what placed her leg in back of her neck, not just shattering her leg, but pulverizing two inches of the femur to dust. After a nearly 32 or 33 hour wait for surgery at a hospital hours away from where the accident occurred, her leg was rebuilt with bone grafts, wire, plates, and screws. Blood transfusions were needed because she lost so much blood. She was in the hospital for weeks and needed intensive rehab (inpatient) followed by years of outpatient physical therapy, use of wheelchair & walker, and had to learn how to walk again.
The surgery and recovery were pretty complex--the bone grafts were not just used to rebuild her leg, but to also grow a new chunk of bone so that one leg would not be noticeably shorter than the other. She had to grow new bone to replace what was lost.
She is left with a scar well OVER 15 inches from the 41 staples that were used after the surgery. Several years after the accident she can walk quite well on even, non-slippery surfaces, often without a limp. The swelling has gone down about as much as it's going to go, she has residual pain, limitations, and deficits. Her knee does not function as needed for running, so she can't run. She now has to deal with arthritis in the knee and eventual knee replacement surgery. Since she is not that old, and knee replacement only sometimes only lasts 10-15 years, she is looking at possibly needing this surgery multiple times in her life.
The accident did other damage to her body as well, but the leg injury was the most serious. It also put an enormous strain on her family, her friendships, her work, her enjoyment of life.
Not only should you NEVER put your feet up on the dash, if you are less than 5' 5" you should have whichever front seat, driver or passenger, moved as far back as you can go. Drivers who are less than 5'5" should put their seat back as far as they can and still safely work gas, break & clutch.
This also goes for the front seat passengers who like to stick their feet out the window in the summer in pursuit of that perfect tan. Having seen what her leg looked like in the hospital, I look at them race by me in the fast lane and just cringe. I wish I could pull them over and show them pictures of her leg after the surgery.
Your last question is about possible injuries, and I told you what happened to my friend. In the moments after the accident, she feared she had lost her leg. What she didn't think to worry about, and what I didn't tell you is that there is a major artery in the leg, the femoral artery, that is very important. Depending on how it is damaged, whether the bleeding occurs internally or externally, there is only a certain amount of time one has before you bleed to death. She is not just lucky to have her leg and some use of it, she is lucky to be alive.
This story also serves as an example of how one can be an excellent, defensive driver and still bad things can happen. At best, a good driver can really only hope to control his or her own vehicle. What no driver can control are the actions and behaviors of other drivers--their impulsive moves, poor choices, careless mistakes, and bad decisions.
Please do not put your feet on the dash, and please tell others not to. Thank you for reading this, and feel free to share this with others if you wish. |
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Gambling
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