We hear often when traffic comes to a
standstill – ‘bumper to bumper’ – which literally means vehicles are struck
close together and are moving slowly.
In automobiles, a bumper is usually a metal
bar or beam, attached the vehicle's front-most and rear-most ends, designed to
absorb impact in a collision. It is hard
toughened material …. ,..try hitting at it with closed fist, you will feel the
pain…. In some jurisdictions, bumpers are legally required on all vehicles. The
height and placement of bumpers may be legally specified as well, to ensure
that when vehicles of different heights are in an accident, the smaller vehicle
will not slide under the larger vehicle. Bumpers are not capable of reducing
injury to vehicle occupants in high-speed impacts, but are increasingly being
designed to mitigate injury to pedestrians struck by cars, such as through the
use of bumper covers made of flexible materials.
There is another part often confused with
bumper … it is ‘fender’ .. which is not a synonym but the part of an
automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle body that frames a wheel well (the
fender underside). Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids,
and other road spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire.
Fenders are typically rigid and can be damaged by contact with the road
surface. Instead flexible mud flaps are used close to the ground where contact
may be possible.
Long back read a Tamil novel where the truck
would be involved in a ‘hit and run’ case ….the sleuths would scan all repair
shops in the city … finding out a vehicle left for repairs which will have
severe impact damage on the bumper …. Wondered how would a man or animal
getting hit – could cause any damage to that strong iron piece ……. it has to do
with the velocity, the speed at which the crash occurs and not simply the
weight of the bone that takes the hit !!
Chickens are considered fragile and not tough … though
this one reported in Daily Mail turned out to be different… this bird was hit
by a car at 70 mph, still survived, damaging the bumper. Daily Mail reports that a driver 'braked hard' when he saw the bird walk out –
the Chinese car collided head-on with a chicken and came out worst in the
encounter. The bird miraculously survived the encounter while the Japanese-made
car was left with a large hole in the bumper. The accident happened near an
industrial park in Xinfeng county in south China’s
Jiangxi
province.
Huang Lingyong, 31, was at the wheel of his Toyota Corolla
doing around 70 mph when the bird suddenly crossed the road in front of him. He reportedly was an animal lover and applied
brakes hard. A sickening thud followed
and the driver thought he had sent the bird to heaven. Later he stopped the car, got out, walked
around to see a hole in the bodywork and the chicken wedged inside. The man thought it must be dead but found the
chicken little shaken up and its
feathers all ruffled, but otherwise OK. In his words, - 'It seemed to me to be
a very good advert for the durability of chickens and a very bad one for the
quality of the car that I was driving.
He took a video with his phone and uploaded the pictures
on the web, which received lot of response. Many Chinese people who saw his
video took the opportunity to put the boot into the Japanese model. However,
the car dealer who sold the car said that the bumper was a cheap Chinese copy,
and not an original part.
Concluding – some use ‘bumper to bumper
insurance’ trying to mean that the policy would cover everything from one end
to the other end. People should understand
that even in ‘all risks’ policies there are exclusions !!
With regards – S. Sampathkumar.