Making It Whole Again
I graduated from Uniontown High School over 25 years ago. When I was in school, I had no idea that I would be using what I learned in Physics on a daily basis. In 1987 I entered the Pennsylvania State Police Academy. My training in crash reconstruction started in 1990 and still continues to this day. I have had over 600 hours of concentrated crash reconstruction training since graduating from the academy. I am one of two state police reconstruction specialists for Fayette, Greene, Allegheny, Washington and part of Westmoreland counties.
I am often asked what it is that I do? Well the “simple” answer is this. I am called to serious, mostly fatal, crashes. Once on scene, I must attempt to determine how the crash occurred including vehicle speeds, drivers, causes, and whether or not it was avoidable.
At times it is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine vehicle speed due to a lack of physical evidence. For example, I cannot calculate the speed for a car to skid to a stop if there aren’t any skid marks. Another difficult scenario is when a vehicle rolls and the occupants are not seat belted. Chances are they will have been thrown about either inside or outside of the vehicle. When this happens it makes it difficult to determine seating position prior to the crash as well as who was actually driving the vehicle before the crash occurred.
In almost all of the crash investigations that I have investigated, the cause is driver error. Most common errors are speeding, not wearing safety belts, and driving under the influence. When I present a school program I always tell the students that your life is in the driver’s hands. If you are a front seat passenger and the car strikes a tree at 35 MPH or greater, you would be seriously injured ands your car will be “totaled”. As the speed increases so does the seriousness of the injuries. Trees and utility poles are quite often only 5-10 feet from the edge of the road and rarely move. Do You Trust your Driver With Your LIFE? If the person that drives you to work or school drives fast and reckless then find alternative transportation. It could be a life saving decision!
The Pennsylvania State Police are concerned with collecting the evidence and determining all aspects of the crash. We then supply this information to the District Attorney and a prosecutorial determination is made. The reconstruction and analysis is informative and influential in the district attorney’s decision. For example, if a car was traveling down the road and the driver swerved to miss a deer and struck a tree, and his passenger was killed; reconstruction and analysis of the scene would provide certain details that may influence whether or not charges should be filed against the driver. In most cases, reconstruction and analysis will determine a minimum speed of the car at the time of the crash. If the car was traveling at 45 mph and the speed limit was 45 mph, should the driver be prosecuted? The district attorney will make those decisions while considering other crash-related evidence. Reconstruction and analysis is also used in vehicle design, safety features and the overall reduction of injuries and deaths.