Question 2

You are driving at high speed along a divided, multi-lane highway when all of sudden you see your evil twin, driving an identical car, going the wrong way and coming directly toward you. You both slam on your brakes, but it's too late to stop and there is about to be a collision. At the last instant you spot a large, very solid immovable object by the side of the road. Which is better for you, to hit your evil twin or to swerve and hit the immovable object instead?

Assume the speed when you collide is the same whether you hit your evil twin or the immovable object, and that your evil twin is going at the same speed you are. Either collision is a head-on collision.

It is better for you to:

  1. Hit your evil twin
  2. Hit the immovable object
  3. Neither one - they're equivalent as far as you're concerned










The answer is that it doesn't matter. Either collision causes you to come to a complete stop in a distance equal to how far the front of your car collapses, which will be the same in both cases.