With its sprawling network of interstate highways and smaller roads build and maintained by the state, Texas experiences a high volume of truck and motor vehicle accidents. Each of these incidents causes a high level of pain, emotional disruption, medical expense, and potential future disability.
Injured persons and their insurers spend many hours and dollars attempting to identify the responsible parties. One of the most common tools used in this search is accident reconstruction, a branch of forensic engineering.
The basics of accident reconstruction
Accident reconstruction employs the principles of forensic engineering to help experts understand the motion of the involved vehicles, their speeds, angles of impact and other events leading up to the collision.
The relatively large size and weight of trucks make analysis of these accidents especially complex.
Accident reconstruction begins with an inspection of the site of the accident. One or more investigators will spend time on the scene making measurements of skid marks, inspecting the damage suffered by each vehicle, injuries suffered by persons riding in the vehicles.
The investigators will collect physical evidence, such as fenders, bumpers, wheels and other parts of the car that may have been detached by the force of the collision.
In some cases, investigators will take possession of an entire vehicle in order to inspect it in the controlled atmosphere of a garage or laboratory.
Most modern trucks are equipped with electronic data recorders; these recorders can provide important information to investigators regarding the vehicle’s speed, direction of travel, brake application, and steering movements.
Investigators often make extensive and detailed records of the accident scene using modern video equipment such as cameras and video recorders.
One the most valuable sources of information about the accident is eye-witness accounts. Unfortunately, reliable eye-witness accounts are not always available.
Data analysis
Accident investigators may spend a significant number of hours analyzing the data recovered from the accident site. These data often tell the investigator many facts about the accident and its cause.
Video accident reconstruction
Today’s accident reconstruction engineers rely on a quintessentially modern device to aid their efforts: the digital computer. Most accident reconstruction firms invest in software that can use crash data to create a video animation of the accident.
The video of the accident can be used to help investigators understand how and why the accident happened. It can also be shown to others to explain why one or more persons should be held responsible for causing the accident.
Tackling challenges
Modern accident reconstruction using all of the electronic and video tools available to today’s experts can provide a detailed and persuasive explanation of the cause of the accident.
However, the numerous challenges inherent in the reconstruction process often necessitate relying on experienced professionals, from reconstruction experts to skilled attorneys.
