| Road collision Technical reconstruction road collision and technical inspection of
vehicles
There are three reasons to investigate the details of a serious accident.
- In the interest of the victims or their relatives
- In the interest of the possible prosecution of the person
who caused the accident
- In the interest of preventing such accident happening in the
future
Victims
Victims in road traffic accidents are not only those who are killed, but also anyone who
was injured as a result of the accident and naturally persons who have material damage.
The official report of the Technical and Accident Unit form an important element in
dealing with the legal responsibility.
Often the technical examination of the vehicle can play a key role in the establishing the
cause of the accident, in particular where statements from those involved and/or eye
witnesses are in conflict with the perceptions which could describe the same clear
situation.
Depending on the findings of the annalist from the Technical Accident Unit (and other
findings), the decision is made by the public prosecutor with regard to an eventual
punishment and the judge calls the annalist as professional witness.
The work of a Technical Accident
Unit
Such a unit should be available 24 hours. In the case of a serious accident (with injury,
with a great deal of material damage, with fatalities), the annalist who is on duty at the
moment goes to the scene of the accident. He carries out all kinds of measurements (skid
marks and final situation) so that the situation can be assessed at a later stage.
Besides this the annalist carries out technical examination on the vehicle involved in the
accident to establish the technical state and to rule out the possibility of a technical
failure.
The examination usually does not take place at the scene of the accident, but for example
at the garage of the traffic police.
In this way firstly the road can be cleared as quickly as possible and secondary at the
garage all kinds of equipment is available, such as a vertical lift bridge, pneumatic
tools, etc.
Photo-gammetry
In many countries in Europe the Road Department, the Police and other Rescue Works form a
team. This is to deal with the collisions on the motorway as quick as possible. This
incident management serves another purpose than the technical dealings of a road accident,
thus conflicting with the prompt clearing of the road.
Innovative measures, which speed up the clearing of the road, were therefore necessary.
With the help of a photo camera aerial photos are taken from different angles. By using a
technical vehicle with a telescopic mast a photographic height of 7 metres can be reached.
Via a computer program consequently every desired projection and every situation sketch
can be realised. The measured figures are also fed into the program. From the photo and
the reference material the computer can work out a three-dimensional model and using the
calculation formula each desired projection can be worked out exactly and printed. The
regional police Rotterdam-Rijnmond in the Netherlands and in some police forces in England
and Germany already used this latest envelopment with great success.
The company ROLLEI in Germany developed the software program used. A special calibrated
Rollei optical measuring camera takes the photographs.
Technical Inspection of Vehicles
In the most European countries the technical state of vehicles has improved greatly in the
last 10 years. In various countries vehicles which are three years old have to have tasted
by a special licensed test garage. This testing garage does this under the responsibility
of the government.
A sticker is put onto the number plates, which showed that the vehicle’s test was
approved
Every year another colour of the sticker (with the date of approval) was distributed, so
the police could simply see if the vehicle was tested or not.
In Holland a separate government organisation, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Transport, has taken the task over from the police. All vehicles which are listed in the
data files are informed by a letter that the test approval period has ended or for a first
test approval an appointment has to be made at the testing garage.
As mentioned before in the case of an accident the police will always check if the vehicle
is technically road worthy and is in a state of good repair. To ensure that the check on
the technical state of a vehicle is always carried out in a professional way, a police
officer has to follow a special course. The complexity of vehicles nowadays is for most
police officers too intricate to make an official report without the assistance of a
specialist. In the case of a police officer checking a vehicle and suspecting that the
vehicle is not in order, he would have the vehicle brought to a garage from the traffic
police. The car would be thoroughly examined by a specialist and if any faults were found
the specialist would make a technical official report. This technical report would be
added to the official report of the responsible police officer and be send to the public
prosecutor for further legal procedures.
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