Traffic Accident Reconstruction

What is traffic accident reconstruction?

Combining the application of physics and engineering principles, traffic accident reconstruction determines what happened before, during, and after a collision. These methodologies apply to collisions involving pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, wheelchairs, motorcycles, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and other modes of transportation.

How does it apply to forensic investigation and analysis?

In order to evaluate the collision, as well as potential collision avoidance maneuvers, evidence must be gathered. Evidence gathering that occurs immediately after an incident involves proper documentation of multiple factors, such as environmental conditions, vehicle and property damage, vehicle positions, skid marks, and any other physical evidence. Evidence gathering can also occur months or years later. It can include documenting the incident scene as well as reviewing and performing analyses based on the police report, vehicle photographs, and testimony. Additionally, if available, video footage from surveillance cameras or dash cameras can be used to determine vehicle speed or lane position, and event data recorders (e.g. black boxes) of passenger and commercial vehicles may have data stored on them to assist in the analyses.

What experience does Explico have in this area?

Explico Engineering has over 50 years of combined experience in traffic accident reconstruction and have reconstructed thousands of collisions. Whether our engineers were on-site immediately after a collision occurred or are analyzing an incident from years ago, they apply advanced reconstruction techniques, including laser scans, drone footage, headlight mapping, computer simulations, and state-of-the-art physics-based visualizations to determine sound engineering opinions based on the available evidence. Our engineers have the tools and trusted expertise required to effectively communicate complex engineering analyses to a jury, and they have testified nationally in both state and federal courts.

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