Whiplash (auto injury) on early 1970s TV, etc.

[Extollager]

My fellow Americans especially,

Do any of y'all remember public service TV spots, or magazine articles, or additional TV shows dealing with the auto-induced injury called whiplash?

In Spielberg's 1971 TV movie Duel, there's a funny sequence about whiplash: Go to 25:30 here:

DUEL FULL MOVIE Steven Spielberg 1971 I LOVE THIS MOVIE - YouTube

(This can't really be the full movie, btw).

There's a second-season (22 Sept. 1972) Sanford and Son teleplay with a false whiplash claim element:

Dr. Caldwell Examines Fred For Whiplash (Sanford And Son) - YouTube

Sanford and Son - Season 2 - IMDb

Both of these have me thinking I remember one of my grandmas latching on to "whiplash" -- though I don't suppose she saw either of those broadcasts. It must have been that whiplash was a Thing -- people were talking about it around then. Do you remember that? Do you remember if there were public service messages warning about it (this would be before seatbelts were required) or if there were articles (maybe in Reader's Digest) about being the victim of false whiplash claims, etc.?

 

[mosaix]

There was a scam run in the UK for a while in a town in the south of England (can't remember the name). Those involved in the scam would intentionally make a sudden stop near a road junction or roundabout causing a following car to rear-end them. They then made a whiplash claim against the motorist's insurance company.

If I remember correctly, the scam was exposed because the scammers usually used the same place each time to execute the collision. An office worker in offices over the road became interested as he witnessed a number of the accidents and they seem to involve the same people each time so he went to the police.

 

[The Judge]

Whiplash as the name for an injury resulting from the sudden back-and-forth head movement after a rear impact in a car has been around since the mid-1950s, and the injuries themselves would have been well known before that, though giving it a colloquial name would have raised its profile in the non-medical population.

Being mostly a soft-tissue injury it's relatively easy to fake and there have been many cases of fraud/suspected fraud both by individuals and collusive groups in the UK. Certainly I was aware of the possibility of fraud when I first started practising in the early 80s. Since the UK usually takes its lead from the US in such things, it would greatly surprise me if it wasn't well known in the States in the 60s and 70s, not least as you allowed legal advertising long before we did, so that lawyers could put out flyers offering to help anyone with whiplash injuries, and if offered on a no-win, no-fee basis (which we also didn't allow until recently) that would have attracted a lot of attention. (Ambulance-chasing as a derogatory term has been known in the US since around 1900.)

 

[Danny McG]

Nothing to do with the thread, but as soon as I saw the title then this popped into my head

Whiplash (TV series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[CupofJoe]

I'm sure I remember some Public Service films in the early 70s UK, along the likes of [ahem] Jimmy Saville's "Cluck Click every trip" but showing what happened if you didn't wear a seatbelt.
As someone who was in a car accident* over 30 years ago and had hundreds of Physiotherapy session over the years, I still have a neck that doesn't move right. I can't look straight up for too long without going dizzy and looking side to side has to be done with a little care.
* I was rear-ended by a military ambulance in a crash that wrote off my dad's car. But I did get great medical treatment almost instantly. And the military hospital was far more convenient than the "local" NHS provision.

 

[Danny McG]

I was rear-ended by a military ambulance in a crash that wrote off my dad's car. But I did get great medical treatment almost instantly

I don't know if that counts as lucky or unlucky!
You basically got hit by an ambulance so one was immediately available.

 

[CupofJoe]

I don't know if that counts as lucky or unlucky!
You basically got hit by an ambulance so one was immediately available.

In their defence, the soldiers immediately admitted it was their fault even as they were treating me. To me and to others at the site. I got the feeling they had just returned for NI as they seemed glad there were no fragmentation or concussion injuries. I remember one of them saying "at least there's no blood and brains". That line sticks with you.
The military insurance coughed up without a quibble. They paid for my first car [an Austin Montego - I know how to live!!! ] and a LOT of physio.