pc-crash: Man rightfully Wins New Trial in Car-Accident Trial

Subjects related to the reconstruction and simulation of Occupants in vehicles and Pedestrians struck by vehicles, ATB & ATB clones #ATB #MADYMO #MultiBody
MSI
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pc-crash: Man rightfully Wins New Trial in Car-Accident Trial

Post by MSI »

From 2005, moving items from former News page of mchenrysoftware.com:
  • "Computer programs can be used…However the mere fact that the results came from a computer does not make the answers accurate. You should always make a careful review of the input variables and how sensitive the outputs are to these inputs. This applies whether you are using a computer or a hand-held calculator". From Traffic Accident Reconstruction, Northwestern Traffic Institute, §-page:68-32

    “As scientists, engineers and accident reconstructionists, we should not let the unlimited possibilities of making anything look real (with animation) obscure our duty to perform a careful and detailed engineering analysis while also continually testing and evaluating the applied techniques, including computer programs, to achieve the most accurate reconstruction possible”. From McHenry Accident Reconstruction 2003, McHenry & McHenry
February 2005: Brian G. McHenry assisted the defense in obtaining a new trial (and releasing a wrongly convicted seriously injured man from jail) in a case in which the PC-CRASH computer program was inappropriately applied to determine who was the driver of the vehicle. The State of Washington appellate court decision includes the statement:
  • "We conclude that within reasonable probabilities, but for the error in admitting the computer-generated simulation evidence, the outcome of his trial might have been different."
The following are links to related information:
  • The Seattle Times news report, Feb 16, 2005
  • The appellate court decision (This is a local copy that has been added to our site for your convenience)
    • Docket Number: 51647-7-I
    • Title of Case: State of Washington, Respondent v. Michael Sipin, Appellant
    • File Date: 02/14/2005
  • The opinion has since been moved by Washington Courts to https://www.legalwa.org/
  • Opinion is also available on findlaw.com
  • The Declaration by Mr. McHenry filed with the court which includes the following important conclusions:
    • After over 40 years of research on occupant simulation there is no model in existence today which has been validated as a generally predictive model for detailed occupant kinematics in any type of real-world accidents.
    • Accident reconstruction programs and occupant simulation models are subject to limitations imposed by the mathematical idealizations and the simplifying assumptions inherent in any mathematical model of the physical world.

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