Accident Reconstruction 2.0

Technology's Footprint: Accident Scene Investigations
For an engineer, a crash investigation typically begins with a phone call from a claims adjuster (or an attorney) to assign a file. Even here, however, before anything actually happens, Web 2.0 can lead to cost-saving opportunities for the client by enabling the engineer to offer alternative investigatory strategies. Perhaps the crash narrative points to a tire failure, but the desired tire specialist works remotely. The engineer can take photos, collect evidence, and then transship the suspect tire(s) across the country to the tire expert. Improved connectivity delivers electronic copies of police reports, images, and recordings of the vehicle damage and crash-site examinations, depositions, and related material, ultimately expediting production of the expert's report. Such a strategy saves money because the higher priced talent focuses on the meat of the investigation and not on the administrative details (the costs drop here as well because only essential evidence is shipped via traditional means). Relatedly, for crash scene inspections, an empowered internet offers numerous useful tools, some of which deliver surprising benefits. Google Earth, which is coming into its own with a variety of satellite mapping resources, can sometimes make on-site scene inspections unnecessary for lower-dollar-value accidents. In years past, finding out what happened required dispatching an investigator, hunting for the best map of the area, and perhaps commissioning aerial photography. The abundant features of Google Earth and similar resources supply street views, maps, satellite photography composites, and more for conducting preliminary research. There may even be an occasion when the points of impact and rest noted in the police report offer sufficient data to initiate a remote analysis with the help of satellite photography. However, such instances are rare because such a long-sighted view may not reveal details like crumbling asphalt, street furniture—street signs, lampposts, and the like—and short-lived factors like recently trimmed trees and weather.

While there are many differences between the analysis of an automotive accident and a crime scene, these fields share an important characteristic:  intuition can trump technology when investigators unravel the series of events that led to a crash or crime. But technology can expedite hunches by delivering critical data. For example, while checking the commercial address of a vehicle fire claim on Google Maps using the Street View enhancement, an engineer discovered that one of the businesses of record at the location had received violent threats when he correlated the company name to online local news sources. While he knew the revelation might not add up to an actual connection between the burned-up car and sabotage, he suggested the insurer initiate an inquiry. Improved data gathering ultimately creates more opportunities to identify criminal acts, cases of fraud, or subrogation opportunities.

Technology's Benefit: Virtual Libraries
Investigating accident claims frequently require accessing technical manuals for product specifications and repair procedures, especially when pursuing potential product liability and subrogation claims.  In pre-Internet days, that meant visiting a library of printed resources. The advent of Web 2.0 has been transformative, to say the least.

Even though Helm manuals have been indispensable for vehicle repair, technology has compelled publishers to create web friendly versions in order to stay competitive with new vehicle-data purveyors. The popular AllData, a platform developed specifically for online use by mechanics, offers easy access to manufacturer recommended maintenance instructions complete with photographed step-by-step instructions.  The plethora of online shop manuals, related vendor sites and video feeds, and collections of professional and scholarly articles available electronically, has certainly delivered a virtual library to the engineer's desktop. 

Beyond traditional sources, social networks, user groups, and YouTube videos also may offer useful perspectives on vehicle matters. Typically, the benefit of such information is contextual rather than factual, plus there are strong accompanying caveats for use beyond the anecdotal. The downside of pervasive internet connectivity is the excessive number of conversations about minutiae; the upside is that within the infinite Web very specific information can be pinpointed and harvested. More and more, automakers, research entities, and consumer groups are using resources like YouTube to upload viewable vehicle testing videos on the Internet that can be tapped for insight. Better Tools and In-Vehicle Resources
Even as Web 2.0 augments the internet-based resources the engineer can utilize to analyze crash events, there are high-tech tools available as well that are expanding accident investigation techniques—some of which are game changers replacing old methods. Crush analysis software, computer animations, 3D modeling, and photogrammetry amplify the engineer's ability to dissect an accident sequence; 3D modeling and photogrammetry build complete views of accident scenes from precise measurements taken on-site. These numbers in turn can be fed into software programs for crush analysis and animations. In crush analysis applications, the data enables derivation of precise measurements of damage sustained by crashed vehicles, significantly improving on the "eyeball" approach that was the standard for years. For animations, photogrammetry improves upon the low-tech orange traffic safety cones and measuring tape. Fueled by the gathered accident data, the software uses complex algorithms to build virtual recreations of crash events—animations are useful particularly for events like rollovers and spin outs.

Then there are onboard microprocessors in the newest vehicle models that are transforming Old School accident reconstruction methodology as well. Embedded performance and safety features like anti-lock braking systems (ABS), traction control, and electronic stability control (ESC), reduce the possibility of using traditional speed-from-skids equations by effectively erasing skidmarks, the telltale signs of panicked braking.  In its place, investigators turn to human factors analysis and data retrieval from EDRs embedded in airbag safety systems to deliver more comprehensive views of accidents.

Newest generation EDR modules offer expanded recording of date and time periods and number of data sets. Previous iterations of EDR offered only basic driver behavior: Has the driver hit the brakes or the accelerator?  Now EDR data may answer more complex questions like did the driver turn the steering wheel to the right or left? How much did he turn the wheel and what were the results? Even yaw rate, the vehicle's spin around a vertical axis, is sometimes available. A growing trend of plugging EDR into other onboard modules and sensors increases the universe of collectible data. For example, accessing a vehicle's tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) could provide useful insight about tire failure cases. 

Another instance of more vehicle data becoming available comes from an empowered onboard diagnostic system (OBD). Traditionally used for emissions control management, the OBD may now offer expanded diagnostic capabilities, especially in equipment that only a car manufacturer's representative like a field technical specialist would have had access to before. An enhanced OBD opens the possibility of extracting historic data—perhaps years worth of operational statistics—for cases like unintended accelerations where vehicle history becomes very pertinent.

Harnessing Web 2.0 in a 1.0 Reality
The flipside of high-tech tools and Web 2.0 connectivity is a fractured reality for engineers who conduct accident investigations. Certainly, they have an enhanced capacity to respond quickly to queries and to deploy newer and better resources, but the biggest obstacle to completion is often time itself. Perhaps higher-than-expected exposures delay a file-assignment approval, or a hurricane postpones the filing of a lawsuit, or a municipality relies on photocopiers and snail mail to fulfill police report requests.  Critical evidence deteriorates, witnesses forget important details, and crashed vehicles possibly are totaled and sold for salvage while an investigation lags. Even though such factors hamper light-speed resolution by investigators, the carriers and their insureds still have expectations of up-to-the-minute access, reporting, and satisfaction. All told, Automotive Reconstruction 2.0 is still a work in progress, although its future is promising.