Is 'car was 2 deg off zero' an accurate collision desc?

General Crash Reconstruction Tecnhiques
Crash tests, Pole Impacts
MSI
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Is 'car was 2 deg off zero' an accurate collision desc?

Post by MSI »

Q: Is it possible to accurately explain the who's, whats, where's and how fast an accident happened using any accident reconstruction technique,or is one better than the other.I am being told the car was 2 degrees off zero which indicates closeness to the center of the road.Is that true,or could it be possible the car veered to the right of the road and than continued driving straight(almost just like switching lanes)and than was hit head on?

A: Who is telling you 'car was 2 degrees off'?? It sounds like you had a head on collision? Normally the gouges in the pavement combined with post impact trajectory (where the two vehicle hit and then ended up) is used to analyze the approximate positions at impact. But quoting 2 degrees?
Perhaps they measured a gouge on the road which was at an angle of 2 degrees?
The questions which come up are:
1) What component of your vehicle did they attribute to the gouge?
2) At what time did they determine your vehicle made the gouge?
Be sure to read the other thread on gouge location in collisions: http://www.mchenrysoftware.com/board/vi ... 9&t=13#p14
3) What analytical procedure did they use to determine speeds and angles at impact?
If they say 'a computer', I say be sure you request the inputs, the CAD drawings they based the evidence on, and then get someone to test the sensitivity of the computer technique for your application. Computer techniques should be used to test and evaluate opinions, not form opinions. Computer techniques can be extremely sensitive in some impact configurations, is your collision one of them?