Reconstruction: Accident

Abstract

Abstract The objective of automobile accident reconstruction is to determine how a collision occurred, based on the physical evidence. Vehicle speed, direction of travel, and position on the roadway at impact are often the elements of interest. The physical evidence may consist of tire marks on the road, damage to the vehicles, debris patterns, and vehicle rest positions. When a police report is prepared, the scene evidence may be documented or recorded with a varied amount of detail. Vehicles are sometimes moved from their initial rest positions by the driver, or at the direction of law enforcement. Tire marks fade with time, and debris fields are quickly cleaned by rescue crews. Generally, few accident scenes are photographed by law enforcement, witnesses, or independent photographers. Because of these variations, accident reconstruction is necessary to determine the most accurate sequence of events. Classical reconstruction starts with the data postincident and works backward in time to determine the preincident sequence of events. The physical evidence is used to establish the pre‐ and postimpact motion of the vehicles, the impact orientation between the vehicles, and the vehicle impact speeds. The process of analyzing and utilizing the physical evidence to understand how the accident took place is like putting the pieces of a puzzle back together to compose the original image. Ultimately, the quantity and quality of the physical evidence determine what can be learned about how the accident happened.