I Was In A Wreck

[my58vw]

I have done quite a few of these "complex" calculations in the process of working with an accident reconstructionist when I was taking classes as part of my physics major. The area of law enforcement that I eventually get into is accident investigation and there is tons of physics involved. Mainly the basic physics of statics, dynamics and general amoung all the specitally formulas and such.

Some of the things that an investigator needs include the corficient of friction (drag factor) and if it changed (wet vs, dry pavement, dirt, etc). They need to know the impact of your tires on providing additional force back to the road. They need to know when the tires locked and if the car skidded the whole way or more likely the car rolled a few feet than skidded. Measurements from the point of impact including all angles are needed. The coeficient of restitution will generally need to be calculated which is based on a number from calculations besed on how much speed is transfered in the colision. To get the number many formulas are needed and they have ones that include the impact of the cars hitting, crush analysis etc. The mass of the vehicles is also important along with the point of impact. Also determining if the collision was plastic or not plastic (elastic or inelastic) is important.

I reciently did one of these calculations for a street racing accident that came in. It took over 3 sheets of calculations to do. Like mscap said we can usually get the speed to a few MPH. Factors that make the calculations off include driver reaction time, impact angles, slope of the road (incline and side to side), impacts with other objects (curbs, etc) amoung others.

This is very interesting stuff for me. BTW, the honda that was racing was going 92 MPH when colliding with a intrepid. The honda was going 80 MPH right after the collision and 55 MPH when the driver hit the tree... the driver died in the collision. The intrepid skidded into the other lane and stoped after skidding a long way (do not remeber the numbers right now). The coficient of friction was rather high that day as the pavement was hot and the tires were hot.

[Future_TX_Cop]

I went and bought a copy of my accident report today with the hope that it would say what the trooper estimated my speed at but it didn't. It just stated everything that I already knew but at least I now have a copy of it so I can take it when I meet with the insurance adjuster about a settlement for pain and suffering, lost wages, ect. I know this doesn't have to do with law enforcement but what do you think is a fair amount to want seeing that I broke a bone in my left foot, numerous cuts and brusies and my sternum is VERY sore. The doctor told me that because of the way the bone broke that I will have arthritis in that foot in 10-15 years. Many people have told me that I shouldn't settle for less than a certain amount but I was just curious as to what you all think. I'm not looking to make a lot of money off of this I just want it to be fair since the lady pulled out in front of me and that is the reason I am going through all of this.

[mcsap]

The police have NO IDEA how much that kind of stuff is worth. You need an attorney.