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Do People Really Lose Body Parts by Sticking Them Out of a Car Window?


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You see these people hanging there arm or other limps out the window

It might not be illegal but it sure looks dumb

There's no comprehensive data set collected exclusively on the number of extremity injuries that are caused when limbs are placed outside moving vehicles.

But we do know they occur. In the U.S., a handful of children have died from head injuries after leaning out bus windows and being hit by roadside objects like signs or trees.

This doesn't just happen with inexperienced children, though. In March a New York train conductor was injured by an object while looking out of a train window.

There's the Oregon man who lost an arm when the car he was in sideswiped a tractor trailer.

A British man last year died after sustaining a head injury he received after sticking his head out of a train window. And a passenger in Georgia lost his head when the vehicle's driver swerved and came up against a telephone pole wire.

And then there's the story of a 5-year-old boy in Rockland, Maine, who looped a jump rope around his wristand trailed the end out an open window. A passing car caught the tail end of the jump rope and separated the boy from his hand.

Adults often set a poor example for others on the roadway with their poor driving habits and irresponsible actions.

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