Background

A delivery truck driver was driving and came to a stop sign. He stopped, looked to the right, looked to the left, confirmed there were no obstacles, and then proceeded to make a right turn. As he was turning, he saw several children running. The driver allegedly made sure to stay in his lane. As he was paying attention to his lane, he unknowingly ran over a homeowner who was working in his yard, causing severe injury to the homeowner.

By the time Rimkus was retained, a significant length of time had passed, and the incident site was no longer the same. Neighborhood foliage had been removed and trimmed. Documentation included photographs taken at the scene at the time of the incident, the police report, and statements from witnesses and the Rimkus consultant. Also included were the inspection notes, measurements, and photographs taken at the time of the inspection. There were no photographs taken from the point of view of the delivery truck driver, and no photographs that showed what the driver saw at the time of the incident.

Services Provided

Rimkus was tasked with performing a line-of-sight animation. Based on the available data, our Visual Media and Technology experts recreated the incident environment.

We animated the box truck, pedestrians, and homeowner in 3D, making sure the foliage matched as closely as possible to the scene at time of the incident based on photographs. We placed the virtual camera at the driver’s point of view and positioned a 3D character at the location of the homeowner working in his yard.

When completed, the animation allowed viewers to see the environment from the driver’s perspective at the time of the incident. The animation showed thick foliage obstructing the view of the driver, causing him to be unable to see the homeowner’s position in the yard.

Without this representation, it would have been difficult to visualize the driver’s perspective and understand what happened during the incident’s events.