Lesson 7 -- Forensic Engineering - Vehicular accident reconstruction

Pre-lesson Reading:
Introduction
Vehicular accident reconstruction is the scientific process of investigating,
analysing, and drawing conclusions about the causes and events of a vehicular
collision. Forensic investigators are employed to conduct in-depth collision analysis
to identify the causes of collision, including the role of the drivers, vehicles, roads
conditions and the environment.
The laws of physics such as the conservation of linear momentum, work-energy
and kinematics are the basis for the analysis and may be employed to handle the
different variables. Accident reconstructions are done in court cases involving death
and personal injury. esults from accident reconstructions are also useful in
developing recommendations for making roads and highways safer, as well as
improving safety aspects of motor vehicle designs.
Investigation. The purpose of Accident scene inspection is to recover data for
further investigation of all of the vehicles involved in the collision. The investigations
include collection of evidence such as scene photographs, videos of the collision,
measurements of the scene and eyewitnesses confessions. Additional information
such as steering angles, braking distance !with " without braking#, use of signal lights"
ha$ard lights, car speed and acceleration will also be obtained. %itnesses are
interviewed to get more evidence for accident reconstruction. &hysical evidence such
as skid marks of tires is also e'amined. The length of a skid mark can often allow
calculation of the original speed of a vehicle. (ehicle speeds are fre)uently under-
estimated by a driver, so an independent estimate of speed is often essential in
accident investigations. *nspection of the road surfaces is also vital - icy road, oil
spill from a vehicle or obstacles such as road debris may affect the friction of the road
surfaces.
Analysis. The process of vehicular accident reconstruction includes data processing
and analysis as well as evaluation of different possible hypotheses according to test
results " modeling result from software simulations. Accident reconstruction software
is regularly used by law enforcement personnel and consultants to analyse a collision
and to demonstrate what may have happened in an accident.
A short video on car crashes+
http+""www.metacafe.com"watch",-.,/0,"car1crash1compilation"
2

Worksheet 7. Accident !cene Investigation
A serious traffic accident happened on 20 3arch, ,424 on the highway at 5orth
6antau *sland. A black olls oyce stopped on the highway because of a flat tyre.
The driver got off the car and walked to the rear of the car to check the luggage inside
the car boot. 7nfortunately, a white car driving on the same lane crashed into the
olls oyce. 8oth cars damaged seriously and the driver of the olls oyce was
killed.
Figure 2
,
9ource+ Tai :ung &ao
!,4---,424#
Figure ,
"

# $ %
7
& $ '

9uppose you were a forensic investigator and arrived at the location after the accident.
According to the above photos, what would you do in order to identify the causes of
the accident;
Things you would do %<= ;
2. >'amine the tyres of the vehicles Flat or damaged tyres may cause the car
to lose control.
,. >'amine the roads condition ?il spill, strange obstacles and sharp
objects may cause accident.
-. ecord the features of the skid marks 3ay show whether the tyre was flat or
overloading. !see Activity @.A#
/. 3easure the length of the skid marks 3ay help estimate the speed of the
vehicle before impact. !see Activity @.B#
A. To know whether the drivers are drunk
or medicated
Alcohol or drug will affect a drivers
reaction time during an accident. !see
Activity @./#
B. ?btain oral confession of the
eyewitnesses
They can provide information which are
helpful in reconstructing the accident.
!see Activity @.@#
@. >'amine the ha$ard lamps of the olls
oyce
To check out whether the victim had
turned on the ha$ard lamp before the
collision. !see Activity @.-#
!This is an open-ended )uestion and there are a lot of possible answers. %rite as
much as you can with your common sense and justify your answers with reasons.#
-

Worksheet 7.# Reaction ti(e o) the driver
eaction time is the lapse of time between stimulation and the beginning of
response.
9uppose you were driving on the high way and listening to the music you like
most, suddenly, you saw the brake light of the car in front of you blinking, you tried to
hit the brake to slow down your car. *ut, there is a small time delay before you can
really do that - your reaction time. Curing that period of time, your car is still moving
at the same <*D< speedE
Typical reaction time of driver under different conditions+
Fonditions eaction time
5ormal G 2 sec
<aving telephone conservation "
6istening music
G2.A H , sec
Crunk or under medication G , H A sec
The total stopping distance !# is divided into , parts +
- Thinking distance!# +
the distance travelled by the car in your reaction time
- 8raking distance!# +
the distance skidded by the car after the brake is hit.

+otal sto,,ing distance - +hinking distance . *raking distance
/

The following Ieaction timeJ animation demonstrates how the reaction time affects
the total stopping distance of the car+
eference websites for the reaction time +
http://www.shep.net/resources/curricular/physics/java/javaReaction/in
dex.html
http://www.humanenchmar!.com/tests/reactiontime/index.php
9imulated conditions+
2. 6isten to loud music when you take the test on reaction timeK
,. Answer a phone call when you take the test on reaction timeK
-. Turn your body around for ten times and then take the test on reaction time
immediately.
%hat can you imply from the results of your tests ;
Answer+ The reaction time will be much slower if the driver is distracted, it would be
even worse under the influence of alcohol or drugs. *f the vehicle needs a longer
distance to stop, the probability of having an accident will increase.
5otes + The reaction time tested in this animation may be much faster than the real situation. eal
drivers use their feet to hit the brake which may need a longer time for the signal communication with
the brain. 8esides, real driver are easily distracted by different conditions on the road while the students
are highly concentrated on the test.
A

Worksheet 7.% F eatures o) skid (arks
*n a car accident, a skid mark is the mark a tire makes when a vehicle wheel
stops rolling and slides on the surface of the road, much like that of an eraser leaving
pieces of rubber on a paper, and is an important aspect of trace evidence analysis in
forensic science and forensic engineering.
Cifferent inflation of tyres will lead to different appearances of the skid marks.
Try to finish the matching game below and give reasons for your choices.
Tyres conditions
" " "
Fontacts with road
!diagrams showing
vertical sections of
tyres contacting
with road surface#
" " "
" " "
Appearances of the
skid marks
"
"
"
B
5ormal inflation 7nder-inflation
apid wear at edges
?ver-inflation
apid wear at centre

5ote+ Tyre wear may not lead to total disappearance of the striation !$%&'#.
The striation may become shallower when compared to that of the normal
area.
emarks+
7nder-inflated tyre-
contact of tyre edges with road / 0)ir(er than1 contact of centre part of tyre with
road
The depreciation of the edges of tyre is much fasterK
%hen sliding on road, it gives skid marks with missing centre part.
?ver-inflated tyre-
contact of centre part of tyre with road / 0)ir(er than1 contact of tyre edges with
road
causing skid marks with missing tyre edges
Actually, there are numerous patterns of skid marks due to the different situation
of the vehicles !e.g. accelerating, turning round, drifting, moving backward and
sideslipping#. The appearance of each skid mark pattern is special but an e'perienced
forensic engineer can obtain much valuable information by e'amining the marks left
by the tire.
eferences on skid marks+
http+""en.wikipedia.org"wiki"9kid1mark
http+""www.harristechnical.com"articles"errors.pdf
http+""www.donan.com"9ervices"(ehicle-Accident-econstruction"&assenger-
(ehicles.asp'
http+""collisionanalysis.co.uk"introduction.htm
http+""www.easts.info"on-line"journal14B"-//2.pdf
@

Worksheet 7.& !+AR+ and !+2P
The acceleration of a vehicle
The manufacturer of 83% )uotes that the model 83% A-4i can accelerate from
rest to a speed of 244 kmh
-2
!,@.. ms
-2
# in B.A seconds, while a Follora >2/4 can have
the same acceleration in 0.. seconds. *t is obvious that 83% has a higher power to
start the car. %e can calculate the acceleration of both cars to make a clearer
comparison.
9ource+ http+""www.bmwhk.com"com"en"newvehicles"modelfinder"modelfinder.html
!83% Foncessionaires !<:# 6td.#
83% A-4i
Acceleration L the rate of change of the speed

t
u v
a

=
!v L final speed of the car#
!u L initial speed of the car# !M 2 kmh
-2
L 4.,@. ms
-2
#
*n the above e'ample, u L 4 since the cars start from rest. The acceleration of
83% and Follora are /.,. ms
-,
and ,../ ms
-,
respectively.
8esides, we can also calculate the distance travelled by the car during the process of
acceleration by the e)uation of motion+

s a u v ,
, ,
=
.

!s L distance traveled#
Apply the e)uation to complete the following table+
Far type 83% A-4i Follora >2/4
Acceleration /.,. ms
-,
,../ ms
-,
Cistance travelled !start from
rest to 244 kmh
-2
#
04.- m 2-B m
The braking of a vehicle
%hen a car is moving on a road without applying the brake, the tyres are rolling
on the ground and no significant mark will be left on the road. ?nce the brake is
applied, the wheels are locked without rolling and the tyres will slip on the road
causing skid marks on the road surface. The length of the skid marks begins when the
brake is applied and ends when the car stops.
Actually, it is the friction between the tyres and the road surface that causes the
car to decelerate and stop. The following e'periment allows you to investigate the
relationship between the friction of an object and its weight.
>'periment
&lace a wooden board on a rough surface, add several weights on the wooden
board. Then attach a spring balance to the wooden board and pull the wooden
hori$ontally !Figure 2#. ?bserve and record the reading on the spring balance when
the board N79T starts to slide on the rough surface. This is the friction between the
wooden board and the rough surface.
3easure the total weight of the wooden board and the weights. !Figure ,#
epeat the above steps with more weights adding on the wooden board. Tabulate
your data in the table below+
0
Figure ,
&766
Figure 2

Trial 2 Trial , Trial -
Friction F (N)
Total weight W (N)
atio F / W
=ou will find that the ratios F / W are more or less the same so that we can
e'press the relation as
=
W
F
constant ?
( F = constant x W )
*n forensic science, we define the constant as f, the drag )actor 0()*+1 for the
road surface. %e can conclude that f is a factor which depends on the nature of the
tyre and the road surface but independent to the weight of the vehicles. !*n physics, f
is called the coefficient of friction ,-)*+#
*n many car accidents, forensic investigator will make an on-site test about the
tyre"road condition. *t is known as the Odrag testJ.
http+""www.musclemustangfastfords.com"tech"mmfp14B241bolt1on1performance1parts"inde'.html
As we have proved in our e'periment, the drag factor does not depend on the weight
of the vehicle. ?nly a part of the tyre is needed for measuring the ratio F /W.

F
24

W
!Teacher note+ the friction measured in the drag test is actually the limiting friction which is a bit larger
than the dynamic friction. =ou can discuss it with students if time is available.#
For normal tyres condition, the drag factor depends on the nature of the road surface.
<ere are some e'amples+
Fement + 4.AA H 2.,,
Asphalt !./# + 4.A4 - 4.04
Dravel !01# + 4./4 H 4..4
9now + 4.24 H 4.A4
<: &olice commonly uses 4.@ for the drag factor in normal condition.
The higher the speed of the car before braking, the longer the distance needed for
the car to stop. 8y measuring the length of skid marks, it is possible to estimate the
vehicle speed just before sliding by the following formula+
f D speed ,A/ =
%here speed the speed just before sliding !measured in kmh
-2
#
f+ drag factor
D+ length of the skid mark !measured in m#
!assume the braking efficiency of the car is 244 P#
>'ample+
A car skids to a stop on a road in 3ongkok, leaving four skid marks with an
average length of /A m. 9kid tests reveal a drag factor of 4.@4. >stimate the speed of
the car just before sliding.
Answer+ .0./ kmh
-2

5otes+
*t is important to understand that this is the 3*5*373 speed of the vehicle at
the beginning of the skid.
*t is not possible to find all of the skid marks H skid marks start out as light
22
2
2
,
,A/
B . 20 ,
,
,
2

=
= = =
=
kmh in measured Df v
ms in measured Df fgD
m
FD
v
D F mv

shadow marks but would become progressively darker ! more difficult to see#.
This formula assumes that the vehicle comes to a stop at the end of the skid
without hitting anything such as another car or a tree.
*f there is a speed value at the end of the visible skid, as when the car strikes
something, the residual speed value must be combined with the calculated
minimum skid speed.
2,

Worksheet 7.' 3ase study-4idnight 3rash
=our group is the investigation team providing e'pert testimony at an automobile
accident case in the court. The case involves a lady driver !Farol# driving a red car
which knocked down a young male pedestrian !<enry# around midnight at a road
junction in =uen 6ong. The driver was not injured and passed the alcohol test.
<owever, the pedestrian was hurt badly. An eyewitness !9am# reported to the police
that he saw part of the accident. The following sketch was drawn by your colleague 2
hour after the accident+
!The positions of Farol , <enry, and 9am in the above sketch are predicted positions during the accident#
2-

After thorough investigation you get the following information+
- mass of the car and Farol+ 2244 kg
- mass of <enry+ B4 kg
- speed limit at the location+ A4 km"h
- drag factor f = 4.@
- point of impact+ ,. m from the nearby traffic lamps
- 2@ m long skid marks from the point of impact
- <enry lay on the ground
- clothes fibers and some blood spatters were found near <enrys body
- a few street lamps were out of order during the accident
- the manufacturer of Farols car claimed that the ma'imum acceleration of the
car is ,./ ms
-,
Q2. From the above information, can you estimate the minimum speed of Farols car
during the crash;
!9ince the mass of car is much heavier than that of <enry, we can assume the
speed of the car didnt change after the collision#
Answer+
f C ,A/ peed = s
2@ @ . 4 ,A/ x x speed =
2 33 !m/h
*n order to reveal the truth and provide evidence in the court, your team had
interviewed Farol, <enry and 9am respectively and got the following confessions.
Farol !the driver, a nurse, /4, mother of - kids#
When I as hurr!ing to the hospita" for ork that night, I stopped m! car #efore the
red traffic "ight. $he road as dark. %fter the traffic "ight turned green and making
sure that the road ahead as c"ear, I drove across the road &unction. 'udden"!, I sa a
person earing dark c"othes appearing in front of me. I sear that I cou"dn(t see him
unti" the "ast moment. I pressed m! horn sharp"! #ut he didn(t seem to have an!
response. )ver!thing as too "ate and m! car knocked him don. I app"ied the #rake
immediate"! to stop m! car. I as so scared that I sta!ed in m! car unti" the po"ice
came.
<enry !the injured person, a salesman, ,B, single#
2/

%fter drinking ith m! friends, I "eft the #ar around midnight. I intended to catch the
"ast #us home. $he pedestrian "amp as green and f"ashing hen I as running
across the road. 'udden"!, ithout sounding its horn a car at high speed came to me
from m! right hand side and knocked me unconscious.
9am !witness, a financial planner, --, married#
$hat as a *uiet night. When I as a"king toards the #us+stop after meeting ith
a c"ient, I heard ver! "oud sound of horn from #ehind sudden"!. I turned to m! "eft and
sa a car knocking don a person. I remem#er that the pedestrian "amp near the
crash scene as sti"" red at that moment. I ran *uick"! across the road to see hat I
cou"d he"p. I sa a man earing #"ack c"othes "!ing on the road ith some
#"oodstains around him. % car stopped a#out ,- m aa! from the in&ured person. $he
driver, ho as a "ad!, got off her car. 'he as ver! scared. I ca""ed ... ith m!
mo#i"e phone for her.
Q,. Fomparing the confessions of Farol, <enry and 9am list out some points that
you think are contradictory.
Answers+
2. Farol said that she drove across the road junction when the pedestrian lamp
was green, which is consistent with 9ams confession (/I remem#er that the
pedestrian "amp near the crash scene as sti"" red at that moment.0).
<owever, <enry said the pedestrian lamp was green and flashing when he was
running across the road.
,. Farol said that she had pressed the horn and the sound of horn was also heard
by 9am. <owever, <enry claimed that the car came to him at high speed
without sounding its horn.
-. Farol said that she stayed in the car until the police came while 9am said she
got off the car right after the accident.

Q-. Fomment on the confessions and discuss whether they are trustworthy O!#J or
doubtful O!;#J.
2A

5otes for teacher to guide the discussion+
Farol+
!# The road was dark. !some street lamps were out of order#
!# * had pressed the horn. !supported by 9ams confession#
!# * had braked the car after knocking down <enry. !confirmed by the evidence
from the skid marks left#
!;# * stayed in the car until the police came !contradicted 9ams confession#
<enry+
!# 4 was runnin5 when 4 was !noc!ed down y the car. 6the inertia o7
his ody would rin5 him a it north a7ter the impact
resultant movement of <enry running direction of <enry


movement given by car
!;#The pedestrian lamp was green " flashing !contradicted Farols confession OAfter
the traffic light turned green ! the pedestrian lamp facing <enry should be red# and
making sure that the road was clear R#
!;#The car did not sound its horn !contradicted 9ams confession O* heard very loud
sound of horn from behind suddenlyJ#
8am:
!# * heard the horn before the collision.
!# The car stopped about 24 m from the body !)uite consistent with the site
measurement#
!;# The pedestrian lamp was red during the collision !there may be time lapsed !about
24 seconds# and it is difficult to prove that the pedestrian lamp was really red during
the moment of collision#
2B

!;# The driver got off the car !contradicted Farols confession O* was so scared that *
stayed in my car until the police cameJ#
$eachers on"!
Although each of them said something doubtful, there was a crucial factor that
would prove Farol lied to the police.
*f Farols car started from rest behind the traffic lamp, she had ,. m for
accelerating her car before impact, and the ma'imum speed her car could attain might
be+
v
,
L , a s L , ' ,./ ' ,.
v L 22.B ms
-2
L /2.. kmh
-2

<owever, the minimum speed of her car at the point of impact was AA kmh
-2
The conclusion is that Farols car did 5?T start from rest at the traffic lamp. *n fact,
she was probably driving across the road junction when the red light was on and her
car knocked down <enry.
!Teacher should remind students that forensic investigators do not make judgment on
the legal responsibilities of those people involved in an accident. Their jobs are to
reveal the facts and reconstruct the truth related to the cause and process of the
accident by scientific methods.#
Worksheet 7.7 Ani(ation o) vehicle5s accident
5owadays, computer generated animations can be used to pool together all the
relevant evidences from forensic investigations and the confessions of the people
involved in the accident and give a visual demonstration of related events logically
and clearly. (ery often such animations are used in attending meetings or providing
courtroom presentation.
<ere are some e'amples of Accident Animation !3ultiple Animated ?bjects#+
The animation is based on the footage of a real accident. The animation includes the
Nogger (iew, 9econd &edestrian (iew and Far Across *ntersection (iew. 6uckily, the
person run over in the animation did survive in the accidentE
2@

eference for the animation+
http+""www.mapscenes.com"software"capture"samples"inde'.htm
2.

Lesson 7 Follo6-u, activities
27 or 2FF 8 La(, E9a(ination a)ter a 3ollision
*n many traffic accident cases, witnesses or drivers will claim that one of the
accident vehicles did not have its lights on during a night time accident or the
taillights and ha$ard lamps are off when the vehicle stops suddenly, which can
account for the responsibility of the accident.
(ehicle lamps can be e'amined to determine if they were on or off at the moment
of impact. The majority of lamps used in vehicle tail lights are incandescent !9:#.
They are the same as household light bulbs. The filaments, the tightly coiled wires
running between two upright support posts, are made from tungsten, a very hard
metal.
%hen electric current passes through a filament coil, the temperature of the wire
is raised to ,444
o
F and white light is produced !incandescence#.
At normal environmental temperatures, tungsten does not react with o'ygen in
the air. <owever, tungsten can be o'idised rapidly at incandescent temperatures in the
presence of air. *n standard lamps, the air inside was removed and replaced with
nitrogen, an inert gas that will not have o'idation reaction with tungsten. %hen the
filament reaches incandescence, the nitrogen gas prevents o'idation. 6ight will be
produced continuously.
Figure 2 and , show the tungsten filaments of two lamps. ?ne of them was
broken due to collision when the lamp was on. %hich one is it; >'plain your answers.

Figure 2 Figure ,
20
filament

Ans6ers: +he la(, in Figure .
". +he )ila(ent in Fig turned :lack. When the glass envelo,e :reaks$ say in
a collision$ the )ila(ent o) the hot la(, is e9,osed to the air and it 6ill :e
:lackened very ;uickly due to the o9idation reaction. !uch reaction 6ill not
take ,lace at the relatively cold )ila(ent o) a :roken la(, 6hen the la(,
6as not turned on 0i.e. even the cold )ila(ent is in contact 6ith the air$ there
is no o9idation reaction :ecause the te(,erature is lo61.
. +he )ila(ent in Fig. curled u,. +he )orce o) i(,act in a collision (ay
stretch out the hot )ila(ent )or(ing the curly )ila(ent since a hot )ila(ent is
so)ter than a cold )ila(ent.
#. +here are so(e 6hite s,ots in Fig. . When a hot )ila(ent 0i.e. the la(, 6as
on1 is e9,osed to the air 0due to collision1$ the o9ide )or(ed :y the reaction
o) the hot )ila(ent and air 6as 6hite and in the )or( o) s(oke. +his 6hite
dust 6ill de,osit on near:y sur)aces 6hen the te(,erature inside the :roken
la(, reduces to nor(al air te(,erature.
<a6 (arks 0 ;<%= 1 and rotation o) vehicles
There are various types of tire marksK the two most common ones are straight-
line skid marks !discussed in previous section# and yaw marks. The presence of
straight-line skid marks indicates that a tire is not rotating, either due to braking or as
a result of damage sustained during a collision.
=aw marks often occur when a driver makes a hurried steering !a# to avoid an
object on the road, or !b# to remain on the pavement while entering a curve too fast or
!c# while overcorrecting a previous situation. A yaw mark is that physical mark on the
roadway caused by the rotating tires of a vehicle slipping in a direction parallel to the
a'le of the wheel during a ma'imum rate of change of direction.
Figure -
,4

9ource+ http+""www.donan.com"9ervices"(ehicle-Accident-econstruction"&assenger-
(ehicles.asp'
!Conan >ngineering Fompany, *nc.#
=aw mark indicates rotation of a vehicle, as would occur when a vehicle Ospins
outJ. =aw marks are generally curved, and the striations are at an angle to the marks.

=se o) 7e6ton5s #
rd
La6 in Vehicular Accident Reconstruction 0a >ong ?ong
case1 0in 3hinese1
eference+
http+""hk.apple.ne'tmedia.com"template"apple"art1main.php;
iss1idL,42440,/Ssec1idL/24/Sart1idL2//.-,AB
,2
Criver gives a sudden
steering to the left
Cue to inertia ! >?#, the car
keeps sliding forward
striation ! $%&'# makes an angle
with the sliding direction of the car
=aw mark formed
behind the wheel

Re)erences :
2. ivers, .%. !,44B#. )vidence in $raffic 1rash Investigation and 2econstruction3
Identification, Interpretation and %na"!sis of )vidence, and the $raffic 1rash
Investigation and 2econstruction 4rocess. *llinois+ Fharles F Thomas &ublishers
6td.
,. Denge, 5.>. !,44,#. $he Forensic 1ase#ook3 $he 'cience of 1rime 'cene
Investigation. 5=+ 8allantine 8ooks.
-. 5ickell, N. S Fisher, N.F. !2000#. 1rime 'cience3 5ethods of Forensic Detection.
:entucky+ The 7niversity of &ress of :entucky.
/. %ong, 9.9. S &ang %.F. !,440#. 4h!sics at Work3 Force and 5otion ($eacher(s
)dition). <ong :ong+ ?'ford 7niversity &ress !Fhina# 6td.
A. @ABCDEFGHICJKLGMN !,44/#O PQRSTU@ABVWXY
Z[\]^_`abOcdefgh
B. http+""www.metacafe.com"watch",-.,/0,"car1crash1compilation"
@. http+""en.wikipedia.org"wiki"9kid1mark
.. http+""www.harristechnical.com"articles"errors.pdf
0. http+""www.donan.com"9ervices"(ehicle-Accident-econstruction"&assenger-
(ehicles.asp'
24. http+""collisionanalysis.co.uk"introduction.htm
22. http+""www.easts.info"on-line"journal14B"-//2.pdf
2,. http+""www.shep.net"resources"curricular"physics"java"javaeaction"inde'.html
2-. http+""www.humanbenchmark.com"tests"reactiontime"inde'.php
2/. http+""www.donan.com"9ervices"(ehicle-Accident-econstruction"&assenger-
(ehicles.asp'
,,