A study recently came out about obesity and
fatalities in car crashes. It has made
some national news.

http://apha.confex.com/apha/132am/te...aper_86775.htm

Apparently, people with a higher Body Mass Index (obesity)
have a higher fatality rate than those with a lower BMI.

The research does not rule out the possibility
of co-morbidity (the fatal rate is just caused because
obese people are just more susceptible to death in general).

But it does suggest that part or all of the morbitity may be
attributable to the extra weight during the crash impact,
and the additional momentum the extra weight creates and
strains the body during high velocity crashes.

For example, a person who weighs 200 pounds at a certain
height would have a higher body mass index if they
weighed 220 pounds. No mention is made of whether
wearing an additional 20 pounds on ones back during a crash
would be equivalent to an increased BMI.

The BMI index is calculated by dividing weight in Kg
by the square of the height in meters.

Studies are inconclusive about possible causes of
the obesity-morbidy data. Further research, including
use of crash test dummies of different
BMIs, is planned to follow up this research.

Does having an extra 20 pounds behind you during an
impact of more than 20 Gs cause enough additional
stress to measurably increase the chance of
death in an accident? Or is the link of BMI to
morbidity in this paper based on correlation
to other factors of obesity (high blood pressure,
difficulty during lifesaving procedures, etc.)?
The researchers haven't yet been able to
get enough data to isolate causality, so
we don't know yet.

But the obese crash test dummies should give some
better ideas in future tests. We'll see...
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Mark J. Boyd