MythBusters · Video summary
Can Two People Really Share Driving A Car Like In The Movies? | MythBusters
Adam and Jamie test Hollywood car chase clichés, including cooperative driving, shooting while driving, swapping seats, and ejecting a dead body from a moving car.
Watch on YouTube ↗Key takeaways
- 🤝Cooperative driving, with one person steering and another controlling the pedals, is plausible for experienced drivers and can be as efficient as solo driving.05:06
- 🎯Attempting to shoot at targets while driving significantly reduces driving efficiency and accuracy, making the movie trope of a driver effortlessly multitasking implausible.07:34
- 🦸The MythBusters often play out action hero fantasies, allowing them to test cinematic stunts in a controlled environment.11:53
- 🔀Swapping driver and passenger seats in a moving car is plausible, but it requires considerable skill and can be awkward and dangerous.13:32
- ⛑️Safety is paramount in MythBusters experiments, with precautions taken to prevent harm to the crew, even when testing dangerous stunts.15:21
- 🧟Ejecting a dead body from a moving car is physically possible, but it is far from the smooth and effortless maneuver often depicted in movies.17:41
Chapters
- 0:00Introduction to Hollywood Car Chase Clichés
- 0:58Cooperative Driving Test Setup
- 3:21Cooperative Driving Performance
- 8:35Shooting While Driving Test Setup
- 10:40Shooting While Driving Performance
- 15:22Swapping Seats Test Setup
- 17:30Swapping Seats Performance
- 23:24Ejecting a Dead Body Test Setup
- 25:46Jamie Ejects Buster
- 30:47Adam Ejects Buster
The digest
Hollywood action movies often feature incredible car chases where heroes perform seemingly impossible feats. The MythBusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, put several of these cinematic stunts to the test to see if they hold up in reality.
Cooperative Driving
The first myth tackled is the cooperative driving scenario, where one person steers and another controls the pedals. This often happens in movies when the driver needs their hands free for other tasks, like shooting at bad guys. To test this, Adam and Jamie set up a slalom course on an airport runway. They first established a baseline by each driving the course individually, averaging a time of 62 seconds. Then, they attempted the course with Jamie controlling the steering wheel from the passenger seat and Adam operating the throttle and brake. Surprisingly, they matched their control time exactly. This suggests that cooperative driving, with two experienced drivers, is plausible.
Keep reading in The Digest
The full 3-minute article, 4 more sections, and every new episode from MythBusters and the creators you follow.
- Shooting While Driving
- Swapping Seats Mid-Chase
- Ejecting a Dead Body from a Moving Car
- Conclusion
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