Road Accident Investigation as a Branchof ForensicScience

Richard F Lambourn
INTRODUCTION
Forensic scienceat its broadest isscience appliedto
the processes of thelaw and the courts. However
in most peoples mindsit is something which takes
place in a laboratory, and in the pOpUkU
imagination it is largely confined to autopsies and
the identification of trace materials from crime
scenes. But the truth is that a modern forensic
science laboratory embraces a huge range of
activities, and in particular will now include
physicists and engineers who are able to bring their
peculiar skills to bear on the problems which arise
in the detection of crime: so much so that the term
forensic engineering has now come into use to
describe what they do [1].
One particular aspect of this which has grown
considerably in recent years is road accident
investigation and reconstruction, and this paper
describes how a large UK laboratory has become
involved in accident investigation, and also
describes some of the techniques now available,
with particular emphasis on new developments.
THE ACCIDENT INVESTIGATOR AND THE
LABORATORY
Because the most important part of the investigation
takes place at the scene of an incident which is in a
public place which cannot be kept closed for more
than two or three hours (rather than, for example,
in a laboratory), it is necessary for the expert
investigator to be someone who is readily available
to be present at that stage. Traditionally this role is
taken by a police officer, and the well-established
courses are either in police training schools or are
directed at the police.
Police officers have the advantage that they are
highly mobile individuals who have the authority to
take charge of a section of the public highway and
who are accustomed to working unsocial hours.
Also, because their background is usually one of
general traffic patrol work, they have an experience
of accidents which is probably unrivaled.
However, because most police officers do not have
the kind of scientific or engineering education
which is needed for a thorough understanding of the
techniques of accident investigation, their
employment in this role has led in some places to a
formula approach to the matter: one where the
method is to measure certain quantities at the scene,
put them into a formula, and find an answer. One
training school, for example, has advertised a
seminar in which leading experts will present their
latest formulas, as though the formula rather than
an understanding of the physical process is the
central reality.
For example, one of the most commonly used
formulae is the one for speed from curved tyre
scuff marks:
v = J(~.g.r)
which relates v, the initial speed of an object (a
motor car), to r, the radius of curvature of its tyre
marks, using a simple constant coefficient of
friction or drag factor, IJ [2].
Procedures for applying it vary. The coefficient, P,
is sometimes simply estimated from tables of typical
figures [3], but is more often (in the authors
experience) measured in a locked wheel skid test in
another car; r may be measured directly from the
road or sometimes from a scale plan.
Principal Scientific Officer, The Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory, 109 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7LP, UK.
ITE 1993 Compendium of Technical Papers 438
Straightaway there will be doubts about these
approaches in the mind of any engineer, but more
fundamentally there will be questions about the
validity of the very simplistic model behind the
equation: what about the characteristics of
individual models of car?; what about tyre inflation
pressures?; what if the driver braked?; and so on.
It is unlikely that the majority of police officers will
have the necessary depth of knowledge of car
handling, tyre properties and the body of research
on the technique to answer these queries, and as
such they are very vulnerable to challenge in court
proceedings. Indeed, the author is aware of a
specific case in South Australia where the judge
refused to admit evidence of this sort from a police
officer who had been trained at one of the major US
schools because the technique had not been shown
to be a sufficiently organised or recognised branch
of knowledge that it should be accepted as reliable
in the Courts. No person was called to verify the
scientific dependability of the principle. The tests
which [were performed by the police officer] fell a
long way short of validating the principle by tests
and practical experience.
It was to avoid problems of this sort that the
Metropolitan Police in London decided more than
20 years ago that its officers would need scientific
support. The initial idea was that these scientists
would merely prove the formulae, in other words
certify for the Courts that the formulae were
mathematically correct but no more. This
illustrates the formula attitude to accident
investigation, and was unacceptable to the Forensic
Science Laboratory staff who were approached to
undertake this task.
Instead the Laboratory decided that it must become
knowledgeable about the underlying physical and
mechanical processes and, in any particular accident
case, must know all about the circumstances and the
evidence. Then a statement would be produced
saying that the scientist agreed with the procedures
used in the circumstances and certifying that they
were physically correct. He would also be in a
position to add any comments of his own.
This led to a programme of tests of the more
important techniques being undertaken, as much to
confirm for our own benefit that they were reliable
as to make any new contribution to the general
body of knowledge [4, 5].
It also led to a deeper involvement with the police
investigators, both at accident scenes and also in the
instruction of them at the training school. The
officers also assisted with the programme of tests.
There were some initial tensions between the police
and the scientists, some of the former feeling that
the skills they had already been taught were being
doubted or even in particular instances declared to
be inapplicable by individuals with no practical
experience of investigating red accidents.
However, the system in London has now settled
into a comfortable partnership, with the police
officers organised into full-time accident
investigation units and the scientists being available
through a 24-hour call-out rota for attendance at the
accident scene should the police investigator so
require.
Thus the arrangement which has now been achieved
in London is one where some or all of the following
options can be taken after a serious road accident:
G
G
G
G
G
an experienced traffic policeaccident
investigation officer canbequickly called to
thescene;
indifficult orcontentious special casesa
scientist canalsobecalled;
a scientist canbe consulted by thepolice
officer after theevent;
the officers reportof hisfindings is
checked,corroborated or corrected as
necessary, and sometimes extended by a
scientist;
a scientist isthenavailable toattend any
courthearingtoexplain and defendthe
officers methodsandtocommentonany
439 ITE 1993 Compendium of Technical Papers
challenge from an expert acting for the
Defence.
In London there are seven full-time units each
comprising four or five officers, while in the
Laboratory to support them there are at present six
scientists. Between them in 1992 the units
investigated 1500 accidents, of which 370 were sent
on to the Laboratory.
Training
The training of police accident investigators in the
UK has always been done at police-run training
establishments with most of the instruction being
given by police officers. To begin with these
courses followed the model of the Northwestern
Universitys Traffic Institute [6], but with their
increasing understanding and with the assistance of
the Laboratorys scientists the instructors have
developed them to the point where they lead to a
nationally recognised Certificate in Road Accident
Investigation granted by the City and Guilds of
London Institute.
The syllabus covers both practical and theoretical
work [8], and in many respects is similar to the
ACTAR Certificate of Qualification in the USA [9].
The practical skills which are tested include tyre
mark identification, measurement of tyre/road
friction (i.e. skid testing), interviewing of
witnesses, and how to go about obtaining specialist
advice. Candidates are also required to submit
examples of casework they have already done and
to draw a scale plan of a set section of road.
The theoretical sections are mathematics (simple
algebra, linear and quadratic equations, simple
trigonometry, and an understanding of the concepts
of precision and error), various aspects of
kinematics and dynamics as applied to motor
vehicles. The latter include the laws of motion,
simple friction theory, vehicle skidding behaviour,
circular motion, vectors, linear momentum, some
knowledge of impact damage, and speed estimates
from projectile range.
An extension of the syllabus currently under
consideration is the characteristics of pedestrian
accidents.
One topicnotcoveredisspeedestimates from
impact damageusing theCRASH3 program(orany
other calculating procedure). Instead thepractice in
Londonisforboththemeasurement ofdamageand
thecomputation tobeundertaken bya scientist, it
beingconsidered thata full understanding ofthe
operation oftheproblemandofthevalidity ofits
outputistoocomplexforthegreatmajority of
police investigators. (Theprogramactually usedis
theEDCRASH adaptation formicro-computers
[10].)
THE TECHNIQUES OF ACCIDENT
RECONSTRUCTION
In the great majority of cases the first aim of the
police accident investigator is to find the velocities
of the vehicles involved. Once this has been done
the movements of the vehicles, pedestrians kc. can
be fitted together in a reconstruction of the
accident which may then show who (if anyone) was
to blame.
Some of the techniques of speed estimation have
been mentioned above, and in any case many are
too well known to require any great explanation
here. Most of them are set out in the chapters of
the text book edited by Fricke [7], but below is
given a listing of the main methods with comments
on any problematical or novel aspects where
appropriate.
G
The length of straight locked-wheel skid
marks: the simple calculation assumes that
on a given surface the sliding tyre/road
coefficient of friction is independent of
speed, contact pressure, and tyre type and
condition (among other things). On hard
dry surfaces these are at least approximately
true to a degree which is acceptable for the
use of the technique. Some controversy
exists over speed dependence, but tests in
the UK show that there appears to be none
in the conditions encountered there [11].
ITE 1993 Compendium of Technical Papers 440
G
The curvature of tyre scuff marks made
during cornering [2].
G
The distances thrown or flown by debris,
pedestrians &c.: many treatments of this are
simplistic, regarding the object as a point
mass where that is not appropriate, and
handling only the parabolic trajectory
without considering any sliding or tumbling
on at the end of it. A recent helpful
treatment has been given by Searle [12],
while the body of research on pedestrians is
considerable [13].
G
The amount of damage sustained by cars in
crashes: the CRASH3 program and its
derivatives provide an easily-used and
easily-abused approach to this; as mentioned
above, a good understanding of them is
needed before they can be used reliably [10,
14].
G The distances slid by motorcycles after
collisions [15].
G
Tachograph chart analysis: in Europe this is
a very important method in the investigation
of truck and bus accidents [16].
The Future
The future of accident investigation is undoubtedly
tied up with the all-pervading technology of
electronics. Police officers are starting to measure
accident scenes not with tape measures but with
total station theodolites which down-load into
electronic memories which in turn interface with
CAD programs [17].
Considerable interest is being shown in computer
generated video reconstructions of accidents, and
the accident reconstruction session in the last three
annual SAE Congresses have concentrated on it
[18].
Anti-lock brakes present difficulties to the
lIlvcsllgtlluI
441 ITE
:. . ---------- in that tyre marks from h~vy braking
1993 Compendium of Technical Papers
are either very faint or invisible altogether.
However there is some hope, in Europe at least,
that accident data recorders (ADRs) will one day,
like tachographs, become common and even the
rule in motor vehicles. Electronic devices have
already been developed [19, 20] and in Sweden a
very cheap (about $5) mechanical recorder has been
produced [21].
A dream one may have is that the output from an
ADR could be fed straight to a video reconstruction
package to give a true video replay of the whole
accident !
References
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3.
4.
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L B Fricke & J S Baker, Drag Factor and
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D A Rudram & R F Lamboum, The
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R F Lamboum, When Vehicle Speeds can
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R F Lambourn, The Calculation of
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