Background

A pedestrian was walking home at night on the side of the road when they were reportedly hit by a truck. The driver of the truck claimed that they did not observe anything, but claimed that something contacted the passenger side mirror.

Services Provided

Rimkus was requested to perform an accident reconstruction, determine if the injuries sustained by the reported contact with the truck could have resulted in the claimed injuries, and to determine what the driver of the truck may have been able to observe prior to the accident. During the course of our investigation, we inspected and photographed the area where the accident occurred, performed a laser scan of the scene, and obtained dimensionally accurate information of the scene and the vehicle. We performed a night time visibility study at the scene and a night time headlamp illumination study with the vehicle involved. We also reviewed medical records of the pedestrian. With this information, we created a three-dimensional computer model of the scene and modeled the headlamp illumination of the vehicle. Based on our analysis, we determined that there was insufficient time for the driver of the vehicle to recognize the pedestrian and react in an attempt to avoid the accident.

The use of the laser scanned site and vehicle allowed the expert and forensic animator to pose a three-dimensional computer model of the accident that was consistent with the injuries suffered by the pedestrian.