Largely true, but it’s crazy what the difference of just a few feet of slowing down does (rather than zero feet of abrupt stopping) to acceleration forces. The crumple zone on a car only has to be 3 feet long to turn a 60mph crash from a fatality to a horrific injury.
Totally. Every next safety measure from airbags to seatbelts are about adding extra inches, rarely even full feet, and they are shockingly effective.