When the speed of your vehicle doubles, the destructive potential of a crash increases by four times.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Only if the road is wet
• D. Only at night

Answer: (A)

When speed doubles, the energy a vehicle has to absorb in a crash grows by a factor of four. This comes from kinetic energy being proportional to the square of velocity (E = 1/2 m v^2). So if you double v, E becomes four times larger, meaning more crash energy must be dissipated and typically results in more damage and higher injury risk. Road conditions or visibility don’t change this basic relationship; they affect how easily you can stop or avoid a crash, but the energy at impact for the same doubled speed is still four times greater.