Why you should never ride with your feet on the dash of your car

By August 23, 2017Auto Accidents

Propping your legs up on a vehicle’s dashboard could break your body for life.

Airbags deploy at between 100 and 220 miles per hour, and could “send your knees through your eye sockets” in the event of a crash, Tennessee’s Chattanooga Fire Department warns.

The message, one the department shared last year, too, is a frightening one that a Georgia woman is all too familiar with.

Two years ago, Audra Tatum had her legs crossed with one foot on the dashboard when she was involved in a crash that deployed the airbag, sending her foot into her face, CBS News reports.

“The airbag went off, throwing my foot up and breaking my nose,” Tatum, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, told CBS. “I was looking at the bottom of my foot facing up at me.”

Besides her nose, Tatum broke her ankle, femur and arm, telling CBS she still walks with a limp and can’t stand more than 4 hours at a time.

Tatum hopes her story encourages others to think twice before tossing a leg on the dash.

Courtesy USA Today Aug. 9, 2017