European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse The technique itself is straightforward. Clues from an Accident site like skid Marks dents car positions and the types of human injuries Are used to deduce often with fair accuracy the Speed of automobiles at Impact their angles of approach their trajectories after a collision the distances pedestrians were thrown and a Host of other details that reveal the dynamics of the crash. Although no method at retrospective analysis can reveal Allol a crash s complexities the scientific reconstruction of Aulo accidents Al the very least can alien eliminate a Host of competing hypotheses about what took place. In every Accident there is one and Only one scenario that can accurately explain damages to vehicle and body said Arthur c. Damask a physicist at Queens College of the cily University of new York who uses Auto crashes to help Leach science students. The Basic tools of the Trade Are such principles As the conservation of momentum the conservation of Energy and Newton s Laws of motion. In his own words these Are Law i every body continues in its stale of rest or of uniform motion in a right straight line unless it is compelled to change that slate by a Lorce impressed on Law ii the change in motion is proportional to the motive Force Law Iii to every action there is always opposed and equal in automobile crashes it is the second Law that generally dictates How bad a crash is. Modern physicists writs the second Law As f equals a. Or Force equals mass times acceleration. In car crashes this Means that the Force of Impact is great in the car has great mass and great acceleration and is smaller if either of those quantities Are smaller the second Law helps explain Why a slow moving Cadillac can do As much damage As a speeding Honda. These and myriad other principles go into the science of crash test programs. One such program known As Edc rash by the engineering dynamics corp., in Lake Oswego ore., uses up to 50 data Points about the crash site including such information As car coordinates length of skid Marks and the amount of Iri Clion Between the tires and Roadway to quickly compute Impact speeds. Ii also can caution a user of the program to be wary of bad data. Some computer programs focus on pedestrian accidents an area of reconstruction analysis that is yielding new insights about car design. For instance reconstructions can show where and How forcibly the Heads of pedestrians hit car hoods. One recent report suggested that there be More space Between engine and Hood so pedestrians have a greater Chance of escaping serious injury. Like any technology the crash reconstruction programs can also be misused. Scientists warn that instant experts Al computer analysis either naive or unscrupulous sometimes appear in courts or insurance proceedings. In this business there Are skilled people As Well As incompetents liars and cheats said Richard n. Stuart a physicist and Auto crash consultant in Danville calif., who said he studies 400 to 500 accidents a year Stuart added that depending on the Quality of the data Speed estimates Are usually accurate to within 6 to 20 percent of the actual speeds at the time of the Accident. He added that some of the new computer programs gave Speed estimates in tenths of a mile per hour implying a false accuracy experienced crash reconstruction experts say they rely not Only on science and mathematical analysis but also on intuition and a Sleuth like inspection of the Accident scene Tor unexpected clues. Computer simulations Are a useful place to Start said Thomas l. Bohan a physicist in Portland me., who serves As a consultant on Auto crashes. They give you first View of what happened. But often you have to go damask of Queens College recalled a Case in which a boy chasing a skateboard near a crowded City Street was hit by a truck and thrown some distance. The Speed of the truck was easy to calculate from the length of its skid Marks. And other details were easy to gather such As the average Speed of children chasing skateboards. But the reconstruction tailed to explain where the boy s body was actually found. The mystery was solved by the wider observations of children at play on skateboards. Rather than speeding straight into a Street they often slowed to let a vehicle pass before Rushing Onward. This was apparently the Case with the victim. He had seen the truck and slowed not realizing Hal the truck also was slowing. When the boy sped up and moved into the Street the Ruek was in his path. A Vest amount of reconstruction expertise goes into litigation and insurance cases. Experts Tell of lop crash scientists leaving their research posts Lor More lucrative positions in consulting where fees can run ram too to $200 in hour. Also scientists from abstract Fields like theoretical physics Are often attracted to Accident reconstruction because of the Good pay and Concrete challenges. The problems Are relatively Short said Stuart who formerly worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California one of two Federal centers Lor the design of nuclear arms. At the lab things took months to do. Now it s two Days or even an other than in litigation and Aulo design crash analysis is used mainly by the Federal government in analysing the Quality of cars and highways and in setting Industry standards. The National Highway Traljic safely administration an of the department of transportation has 36 teams of crash investigators in the Field to investigate the ability to cars to withstand crashes. These learns put Accident data into personal computers equipped with programs for crash reconstruction and Send the results to National compilation centers. For especially Complex problems further analysis May be done at universities or by contractors. The information is used by our research people and Rule making people to develop the next generation of motor vehicle safety standards and to develop Accident counter measures including improved vehicle structures and occupant Protection systems said William a. Boehly director of statistics and analysis Lor the Highway safety Agency. Currently he added there Are about 20 Federal regulations relating to cars potential for withstanding crashes. Traffic school in California London Broil and lessons in Karma by Katherine Bishop new York times Ary f Arris speeder reported Lor rehabilitation Wilh 14 fellow lawbreakers recently at thingy s restaurant plunked him sell Down at a table overlooking a got course and Tore into his London Broil. Across Lown in san Francisco. Jennifer Fairbanks part time re education specialist and professional stand up comic was advising another group of malefactors of their responsibilities under the Law. It s illegal for you to Park in spaces reserved for the handicapped she said. And also it s bad Welcome to traffic violator school California style. In the slate with the most cars the most traffic tickets and the worst Rato of compliance with motor vehicle Laws traffic school is big business three million californians get tickets every year and 800,000 of them choose to endure Art eight hour review of the Traelic Laws to escape paying fines and to hide the violations from their insurance companies. Wilh Ira flip school As Wilh other mailers californians relish Choice and the stale has certified a smorgasbord of courses by private concerns. One out of four penitent lawbreakers chooses a class taught by a professional comedian. Fairbanks a member of the local improvisations comedy group Loose change is one of the comedians who holds Forth for an outfit called lettuce amuse u Laff n learn terrific school which holds classes All Over the state. Ala recent session Fairbanks managed to perk up a roomful of Young students who had seemed less than cheerful when reporting at 8 . For an eight hour session in spine crunching Metal chairs. She warned them against such unsafe driving practices common there As applying Mascara while driving. One student uttered thai he saw a Man driving Down a freeway while eating sushi Wilh chopsticks this is not a person in touch with reality Fairbanks said. . Regan the president of West coast driving industries which runs both lettuce amuse u and its sister school comedians plus learn from us said using comedians to teach the classes makes bearable an otherwise excruciating eight hours. It s real common in this Industry for students to fall asleep he noted. Using comedians is also Good business. Each year 200,000 traffic Taw violators pay $26 each to attend Regan s schools and he employs about 100 comedians in need of work All on a part time basis. Regan would not disclose How much they Are paid or the profits of his company. He admitted that reviewing the Traelic Laws might nol make people drive More solely ii part of the class starts using their seat Bells we be done our across town the violators who paid �29 to attend the lunch n learn Al Fine restaurants class were culling Inlo London Broil and baked potatoes and knocking Back glasses of chilled Lap water Al thingy site restaurant Al the Lincoln Park Golf course. The meal was their payoff for surviving a morning session that As taught by an off duty Daly City police officer Mark e. Keyes. Seemed to have been perfected by experts from a chinese cultural revolution re education Camp. While Keyes is no comedian his lessons Are not without lighter moments. Al a recent class Lor example he recounted a 100-mile-an-hour Pursuit of a motorcyclist that ended when the japanese made Bike blew up. He asked Tor comments he should have had a a student said. The Fine dining traffic school offers a fringe Benefit movies. Shortly after the chocolate mousse the students Sal Back to mull an assortment of stomach churning videos of car wrecks with lilies like red Asphall ii. Keyes a former new York City paramedic said he found this a particularly instructive pedagogical approach. Farris who is 20 and was caught doing 40 in a 25 mile an hour zone said the class was like High school Driver s education and he was not Overly impressed. Let s lace he said Midway through the class we came Here for the William Gengler. A spokesman for the state department of motor vehicles said the department had no illusions about the Efficacy of sending traffic violators to school. Reviewing traffic Laws he acknowledged is not going to change the hard Core Traelic violator s modes but he said the program is considered fairly effective in increasing awareness of driving in a Sale most of the students were somewhat More cynical about the Prospect of changing their driving habits. Are you kidding one said. I broke the Law on the Way Over sunday october 16,1983 the stars and stripes Page 17
