Re: Screams avert rail disaster

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@ozemail.com.au>]

"David Bromage" <dbromage@fang.omni.com.au> wrote in message
news:3AD24A04.2A17C318@fang.omni.com.au...
> A train driver yelled at his passengers to "hang on" moments before the
> train ploughed into a truck at a level crossing yesterday. Emergency
> crews praised the driver's bravery, saying his warning might have saved
> dozens of people on the city-bound train from serious injury.
>
>
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,1881809%255E2862,00.htm
l

Unfortunately warnings in these cases may increase injury rather than
decrease it.  If the body is "tensed up" breakages are more likely to occur.
Young children and drunken adults often escape serious injury in falls
because they are incapable of recognising the potential danger they are in,
and as their body is relaxed they are better able to survive the impact.

Would be interested in a medical practitioner's opinion here, rather than
the suppositions of a tabloid newspaper.

regards

David Bennetts