Expert Q&A – Car Accident Reconstruction Part 1

Probably not many people know much about automotive accident reconstruction, and we hope you never need to use this service. Every driver should follow driving rules and always be safe on the road. This is why we consistently share car maintenance tips and safe driving information to remind and help people avoid from possible danger.

Thomas Lacek, the car collision expert from Robson Forensic, has more than 30 years experience in auto engineering with expertise ranging from used and new vehicles to antiques and classics. Nutley Kia invites him to share his knowledge regarding crash reconstruction as well as tips to avoiding car accidents. Inspecting more than one thousand crash cases, he organizes the most common reasons that cause a car accident and knows how to handle any unexpected situations. Make sure you read through this expert talk and learn from his experience.

Please briefly introduce yourself, and tell us what you do?

I am a licensed mechanical engineer and for the last 24 years, I have been reconstructing vehicle crashes considering 2 areas:

• How did the crash occur.
• What failure/malfunction/design flaw in the vehicle caused or enhanced the crash and/or the injury outcome. For example, should the airbag have deployed? How were the injuries affected by the failure to wear a seat belt? In the case of multiple ejections, who was driving?

 

What are the 3 collisions most vehicle crashes experience? Can you tell us more about what happens in these phases?

There are three basic common collisions involved in a crash scenario:

• The vehicle striking another vehicle or object.
• The occupants striking some feature of the vehicle interior.
• The movement/collision of the internal organs within the body. For example, brain matter is about the consistency of mayonnaise. You can stir it, slosh it, and spin it. The brain is full of nerve endings in a particular alignment. Shake it up, and the nerves are misaligned=closed head injury.

 

In a frontal crash, if the occupant is unrestrained or ineffectively restrained, the occupant moves forward relative to the vehicle interior until interior contact is made. For the unrestrained driver, contact will be the steering wheel by the face and chest, the instrument panel by the knees, and possibly the windshield by the head/face. The unrestrained occupant has much less time to decelerate than the car.

 

In comparison, the trajectory of the restrained occupant, wearing a three-point belt, which properly performs, is entirely different. The occupant moves forward and begins to load the seat belt. The lap portion applies force across the iliac area of the pelvis (low across the hip area), while the shoulder strap loads the rib cage and shoulder. For the driver, this will be the left shoulder. The head will continue to move forward and rotate downward. During this head movement, the chin can strike the chest. For lap belted occupants, the torso, neck and head will rotate forward and downward. By being tied to the vehicle, the restrained occupant decelerates over a longer time, which reduces the applied forces.

 

Follow-up: Which phase do you think is the most difficult one to reconstruct? Why?

The hardest crashes to reconstruct are those with the least information:

• Lack of damage info to the vehicles, such as the vehicles themselves or good photos
• Lack of scene documentation, such as location of impact and final rest. Also failure to document any pre and post impact tire marks.

 

What is the procedure to investigate and reconstruct a vehicle accident?

Procedure wise, it’s pretty straightforward – obtain the data, then analyze the data. Many times, the answer is not what you are looking for.

 

Part 2 is coming soon…

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