“What’s up man, you want to hit up the Longbranch tonight?Cool, I’ll get up with you later.” Ronnie ends the call and heads out on a beer run. After the last sip of Gin, Stan finishes up one of his many fan letters, drops it in the box, and starts to get ready for the night. “What’s good?” It was Ronnie’s cousin Squirrel on the line. “You okay with Stan going tonight?” “Yeah,” Squirrel says, “he’s got a sweet ride… we’ll let him drive! He let me drive that GT all last week, that thing is hot!” “Sounds like a plan! Let me go dude, bout to head in and get some cold beer.”
“911, what’s the nature of your emergency?“
“Yes, there is an overturned car, looks like maybe a Mustang, a red Mustang. I’m just off Highway 9. It’s down an embankment…I can see two people laying on the ground and one person still in the car. The two people on the ground are moving, but the one in the car looks bad!”
“Police and EMS are on the way ma’am.“
“Okay, I have my emergency flashers on, can you stay on the phone with me until they get here… it’s really dark and cold. I’m scared.”
“I’m here ma’am, try to calm down. Can you give me a description of the people involved, maybe what they’re wearing?“
“The one that’s lying near the car is wearing red jeans with a white T-shirt, and it looks like he has a black and green high-top sneaker on his left foot only, just a sock on the other. The other one out of the car has regular blue jeans on, and a green shirt with boots. It’s hard for me to see the guy in the car… looks like he has on jeans and some kind of black concert T-shit, I can see tour dates and make out the word “Shady”. Hey, the police are here, so I’ll hang up now.”
A lot is at stake here and we have quite a dilemma, three occupants involved in a single vehicle crash with one fatality and no idea who the driver is. The stakes begin to rise immediately, at the scene of the crash. What’s documented or not documented will affect the outcome of this case. It will affect the outcome of this case when everyone has gathered with suit and tie, when hands are placed on the Bible, and the truth is sworn to be told.
We’ve talked about proper collision scene documentation several times, but this time let’s talk about a few ways we can build a case like this and possibly identify beyond a reasonable doubt who was driving at the time of the wreck. Read More
Maybe you, a loved one, or even a client, have been in the unfortunate position, no pun intended, of being the creamy center in a three-car wreck. Odds are high that you have not, but those odds are also equally high that if you have, you will be shown as one of the contributors to the collision. In other words, the wreck will likely be your fault-and possibly the fault of the person behind you as well. Sure, the wreck could be the fault of the middle and third cars… that wreck would look something like this; Read More
Every spring, the United States shifts the clocks forward one hour creating an extra hour of light in the evenings. However, this shift may be linked to a slight increase in fatal traffic accidents immediately following the time change. It is theorized that the increase in fatal traffic accidents is due to two things: people losing an hour of sleep and the low illumination conditions of morning commuters. Read More
Trick-or-treating is a fun and festive activity, but it comes with certain hazards that can pose risks to children and even adults. In addition to trip and fall hazards while trick-or-treating, there is also an increased risk of vehicle/pedestrian collisions due to the increased pedestrian activity in the roadway at night.
Child trick or treating during Halloween in the roadway.
At night, there are two significant problems facing drivers that contribute to pedestrian/vehicle collisions: Read More
A proper collision scene documentation, lovingly referred to as a scene doc, will make or break the investigation… guaranteed! While not necessarily all inclusive, here are a few evidence collection / documentation techniques that have served me well over the years.
Some, if not most, collision scene evidence is short lived, and tire marks Read More
“Was a dark stormy night as the train rattled on…” Anybody? 1985? Scarecrow? Come on… this was when Cougar was still a Mellencamp! Ok… it was called Grandma’s Theme… you’ll have to look that one up… but as I sat down to write this blog on the environment, that song kept running though my head. If you look it up, it will have a similar effect… just a little warning.
In our last installment of the 9-Cell Collision Matrix let’s travel down the wet, slippery slope of environmental factors that can contribute to car crashes, and maybe take a closer look at the things around us, at or near our crash scene that may reveal some important clues. Read More
A 43-year-old man driving his small vehicle northbound in the right lane of a rural two-lane paved road, was on his way to his favorite hunting spot in the early morning. He had two passengers with him—one in his front passenger seat and one in his back left seat. It was dark outside, and the weather was clear and dry. Along the rural two-lane road were large wooded private properties with no ambient lighting illuminating the roadway. Further up the road, a log truck began to turn left onto the road. Unable to entirely turn left in one fluid movement, the log truck Read More
Murder, suicide, deceit, and intrigue… car crashes? You bet! In our next installment of the 9-Cell Collision Matrix let us dive a little deeper into the glue that binds all this together, the human element.
Photo by Mark Turner
Let’s begin with the most basic human element at the root cause of car wrecks, our old friend inattention. Inattention… a vast word that encompasses many lackadaisical conditions. The daydreaming 16-year-old in math class, the radio knob turner, the back seat talker, the quarter pounder with cheese eater, and perhaps the most offensive, the cell phone user. All very dangerous behind the wheel, and one very dangerous to your future… as it turns out, you will always need good math skills… ask me how I know? Driving is of course a divided attention endeavor, Read More
In a previous blog post, we began to delve a little deeper into the vehicle aspect of the 9-Cell Collision Matrix by taking a look at tires. Let’s now take a closer look at the very diverse and interesting topic of Event Data Recorder (EDR) data. Read More
If there is a human involved in the case, there is a good chance that human factors theories and principles will be applicable. Human factors is the study of people interacting with their surrounding environment. A human factors expert applies their knowledge of human capabilities and limitations to each unique case to assess the physical, sensory, and cognitive factors that caused a person to behave a certain way within the surrounding environment.
Consider the following situations in which a human factors expert would be beneficial: Read More
