Student Guide

SUV vs. Compact Car A Traffic

Accident
Olivier Tardif-Paradis
Cgep de Victoriaville

Stphan Gaumont-Guay
Cgep Limoilou

APP/Student Guide
APP/Student Guide 2
Traffic Accident
Background

You are a police investigator and you have been asked to investigate a traffic accident involving two
vehicles. You go to the site of the accident to gather testimony from the witnesses and the information
required for the investigation.

According to the first witness, a pedestrian who saw it happen, the accident occurred at the end of the
afternoon on a sunny day. Coming out of a curve, the driver of the sport utility vehicle (SUV) lost control
of his vehicle and ended up in the wrong lane, in the path of an oncoming vehicle. Both drivers tried to
brake, but they collided anyway.

The second witness, the driver of the compact vehicle, was still in shock. He told you that he was driving
within the speed limit when he saw the SUV skid out of control as he came out of a curve and come into
his lane.

The driver of the compact car said he could have avoided the collision by driving off the road, but he
deliberately chose to collide with the SUV rather than risk smashing into the concrete wall at the side of
the road. He felt it was safer to collide with another vehicle than to strike a concrete wall at full speed.

It does appear that both drivers tried to brake, because there are still braking marks on the road. The
SUV driver is dead. When you check his driving record, you discover that he had been involved in
another accident two years ago.

As an investigator, you must gather all the information required and determine the possible causes of the
accident, which will be presented in the event of a court case.

This information will allow the crown prosecutor to decide whether one of the drivers can be charged
under section 249 (3) of the Criminal Code, Dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

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Diagram of the Accident

Braking Debris found here Braking

marks marks

Yaw marks
(sliding)

Your findings are as follows:

Debris (oil, glass, metal, etc.) was found 5 m from the final position of the two vehicles.
The speed limit on this boulevard is 80 km/h on the straight and 40 km/h on the curve.
The curve radius is 48 m.
The mass of the compact car driver is 100 kg.
The mass of the SUV driver is 95 kg.

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Three-step Cycle

List all relevant information that you gathered about the problem. Based on this information, indicate what
you need to find out to solve the problem. As you discover new information, you should summarize and
update the relevant information that you have gathered and ask new questions.

List the Following:

What We Know To Be Determined Summary

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Preliminary Questions (Part 1)
Black Box 1: What Are the Causes of a Traffic Accident?

Compare the effects of different physics parameters on the braking distance, using this website:
http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/Reaction/reactionTime.html

1) Braking distance as a function of reaction time (t=1 s or 0.5 s and c = 0.5).

Write your conclusions.

2) Braking distance as a function of type of braking (c = 0.5 and s = 0.8)

Write your conclusions.

3) Braking distance as a function of initial velocity (c = 0.5 and s = 0.8)

Write your conclusions.

Black Box 2: Force (Chap. 5 and 6)

4) Describe the forces affecting the vehicles at different moments (SUV, compact car, braking, curve,
etc.) using a forces diagram.

____________forces diagram:

____________forces diagram:

____________forces diagram:

____________forces diagram:

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5) How could the curve influence the accident conditions?

6) What data are needed to calculate the initial velocities of the vehicles?
(Hint: Find the list of useful equations.)

Black Box 3: Friction (chap. 6)

7) What type of friction is in play when the vehicle is driving, braking, skidding on the curve, etc.?
(Hint: You should describe the type of friction each vehicle is subject to in each stage of the
accident.)

8) How can the braking marks or yaw marks help determine the causes of the accident?

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Black Box 4: Momentum (Chap. 9)

9) What type of collision occurred?

10) What causes the momentum to change?

11) What remains constant before and after a collision?

Black Box 5: Energy (chap. 8)

12) What is the unit of energy?

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13) Is the energy a scalar or a vector?
Explain your answer using an example.

14) What formula can be used to calculate the energy of the motion (kinetic energy)?
Identify each variable in the formula.

15) What happens to the change in kinetic energy of an object? What is the difference in kinetic energy?

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Appendix:
What You Need to Understand:

Chapter 6 in Benson: Particle dynamics

- Understand Newtons laws in the problems about uniformly accelerated rectilinear motion
(UARM), which requires producing separate force diagrams for each object.
- Under the importance of the notion of centripetal force, which allows for the creation of circular
motion (uniform or otherwise).

Exercises: E5, E7, E11, E29, E40

Chapter 7 in Benson: Work and energy

- Understand the phenomena.
- Understand what the translational kinetic energy of an object represents physically.
- Understand that the change in kinetic energy of an object is the result of net mechanical work
done on the object in question.

Exercises: E5, E22, E38

Chapter 9 in Benson: Momentum

- Understand the importance of the notion of (vectoral) momentum in physics problems, especially
problems involving collisions or variable mass systems.
- Understand how a perfectly elastic collision differs from a perfectly inelastic collision.

Exercises: E2, E17, E18.

References:

1. ABS brakes:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp13082-abs1_e-214.htm

2. Mythbusters: Mythssion Control: Crash Force

Here is the first part of the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GuqiAHGGT4
and here is the second part
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JGIYLZZUg&feature=related

3. Socit de lassurance automobile du Qubec :

http://www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/documents/pdf/prevention/road_slow_quiz.php

4. Game about driver reactiontime: http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/Reaction/reactionTime.html

5. Criminal Code of Canada http://lois-laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/FullText.html

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Were the Road Conditions at Fault? (Part 2)
Now you have to take the routine measurements to determine the friction coefficient of the road in this
location. You are not certain how to proceed. There is no point in asking advice from the investigators, as
they are all very busy right now. You have to figure this out yourself.

You have a block of iron that weighs several kilograms, with a tire tread attached to one side.

16) What data can be obtained using this friction block and a dynamometer?
Diagram, parameters, variables, etc.

17) Based on this information about the method to use, find an equation that will determine the friction
coefficient of the road.
Hint: Make a diagram of the forces.

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18) Could the road design (construction, surface, speed limits, etc.) be at issue? Justify your
answer using a diagram and calculations.
Hint: Analyze each section of the road. Analyze all possible road conditions.

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Was the SUV Driver at Fault? (Part 3)
19) What information do we need to help determine whether or not the SUV driver was at fault?
Hint: Refer to your conclusions from the section on causes of a traffic accident.

20) Your approach: (diagram, forces diagram, calculations, etc.)

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Technical Data

Vehicles Compact Car SUV

Photo

Years of production 1999 - 2006 2003 - 2010

Thermal: 70 hp
Maximum horsepower Electric: 13 hp 325 hp at 5,200 RPM

Dimensions
3.9 m x 1.7 m x 1.4 m 4.8 m x 2.1 m x 2.0 m
LxWxH

Brakes ABS ABS

Total mass 838 kg 2,909 kg

CO2 emissions 122 g/km 468 g/km

Friction coefficients:
Tire / dry road: s=0.8 and c=0.5
Tire / wet road: s=0.5 and c=0.35
Tire / icy road: s= between 0.3 and 0.1 depending on salt level and c=0.1

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Was the Compact Car Driver at Fault? (Part 4)
21) What information do we need to help determine whether the compact car driver was at fault?

22) Your approach: (diagram, forces diagram, calculations, etc.)

23) The driver of the compact car could have avoided a head-on collision with the SUV but he did not. Is
his statement justified?

Driver of compact car: Its far more dangerous to collide with a concrete wall than with a car coming in
the other direction. I learned that on Mythbusters!!!

Explain your point of view before doing the calculations:

____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

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24) What energy would the compact car have absorbed if it smashed into the concrete wall?

25) What energy did the compact car absorb in the collision with the SUV?

26) Validate your conclusion using the assembly in front of the class.
Do you arrive at the same conclusion as in 3)? Explain any differences.

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