Horrific X-ray of Woman’s Crushed Hips Shows Why You Should Never Rest Feet on a Dashboard

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An X-ray of a young British woman’s catastrophic hip injury is shocking thousands of people. Police hope that publicizing the image will deter others from making the same mistake as the injured woman; resting feet on a vehicle dashboard could have similarly devastating results.

The woman, who remains anonymous, suffered from one broken hip while the other was completely dislocated. Although she did survive, the patient’s injuries were described as “life-changing,” according to the Daily Mail.

It was Sergeant Ian Price, Go Safe Casualty Reduction Lead for Heddlu Dyfed-Powys Police in Wales, United Kingdom, that shared the shocking X-ray on social media. “Here is an X-ray of horrific injuries sustained to the front seat passenger who had their feet on the dashboard at the time of a collision,” he wrote.

“If you see your passenger doing it, stop driving and show them this,” Price added in a tweet posted in January 2020.

Putting your feet on the dashboard of a car is not currently a legal misdemeanor in the United Kingdom or the United States. However, officers in both countries would be justified in reprimanding a passenger if their feet were obstructing a side mirror.

Safety-wise, vehicle airbags are designed to deploy when the driver or passenger’s feet are resting on the floor of the vehicle, as per Safer Car. Airbags could cause excess injury if someone sits with their feet up or out of the window.

Airbags, the experts add, are a “supplemental restraint system,” meaning they must be used in combination with a safety belt.

Back in 2015, a Georgia mom of three made headlines after paying a hefty price for reclining in the passenger seat and placing her feet on the dashboard of the car. In August 2015, Audra Tatum of Walker County, Georgia, was left permanently disabled in a minor crash.

Tatum was riding with her husband when their car collided with another vehicle. “We were heading to my parents to pick up our two sons,” Tatum told NewsChannel 9.

“A car came up to a stop sign, we were coming down the road, and he pulled out in front of us,” she recalled. “We T-boned him.”

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The car’s airbag sent Tatum’s foot hurtling into her face. She broke her nose, ankle, and femur.

“Basically my whole right side was broken, and it’s simply because of my ignorance,” Tatum admitted to CBS in an interview in 2017. “The airbag went off, throwing my foot up and breaking my nose. I was looking at the bottom of my foot facing up at me.”

“I’m not Superman,” she added. “I couldn’t put my foot down in time!”

To make matters worse, Tatum was not wearing her seat belt, which only amplified the injuries caused by the impact of the crash. Tatum’s mobility was irreparably damaged.

“Do not sit like that,” Tatum urged others. “If you sit like that, you’re asking for it.”

Chattanooga Fire Department reiterated the mom of three’s warning. “Airbags deploy between 100 and 220 miles per hour,” the department wrote in a Facebook post in 2017. “If you ride with your feet on the dash and you’re involved in an accident, the airbag may send your knees through your eye sockets.”

Two years after Tatum’s accident, the Georgia native still had not made a full recovery.

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Sharing her story with others, she wants to warn them of the potential dangers of sitting with your feet up on the dashboard.

“I keep telling everybody, you don’t want this life,” Tatum said, hoping that her experience would help inform other people’s choices. “You don’t want the pain and agony every day.”