Car thoughts: thinking about everyday forces

"All objects will move in a straight line at constant speed unless something interferes with its motion."

I have a long commute to school in the morning. I never look forward to it. The baby is usually crying in his rear-facing car seat. I often wish I could reach him to comfort him, or pick him up, but I can't. It's 45 minutes to an hour of pain for both of us.

I asked my professor about rear-facing car seats, and he told me it was likely it had to do with inertia on our bodies. He told us that most of the time, when people die in car accidents, it isn't that they get smashed by anything or bang up their bodies so badly; most of the time it's their organs continuing to move within them while the car suddenly changes in speed. I have this horrible image of hearts and lungs getting ripped out from the inside, whether that's accurate or not. With babies under 25 lb, or a year, I have the idea that their lack of strong neck control could put some part of their necks at risk?

I really want to comment on how revolutionary Newton's Laws are to the common-sense understanding of the universe. Without the idea of inertia, I would thing:
1. Car moves because of the engine and gas
2. Car stops because I stop using the engine to move it

Actually, that's not quite right. I'm still in the Aristotelian mindset. Aristotle said that things can only move with constant speed if there is a mover still acting on them, keeping them going at that speed. This is what you can observe in typical circumstances, but that's because of friction and all the other trappings of ordinary living. Really, I should be thinking:
1. Car is set in motion by engine and gas
2. Car continues to be in motion, until it is overcome by the forces of friction and air resistance.

Ah, it's hard to change your way of looking at the world!