The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Seven Drag Factor Questions

Paul Richardson (ffw@sprynet.com)
Wed, 16 Apr 1997 09:15:04 -0400 (EDT)

1)Guesstimating won't hold up in court. Of course you have to do tests. And I would have used the offending vehicle to do the tests with.
2)Don't throw out anything. Use the information obtained at the scene.
3)Again, if the offending vehicle is available, use it. Sometimes skid tests are not safe to perform. In that case use a drag sled, or skid the vehicle on a different part of the roadway and adjust for elevation if any.
4)5% of the lowest of 3 tests. And it must be within 5% of at least one other test.
5)You have to rely on the other officers test. He/She was there at the time of the accident. Obviously you weren't. And conditions change.
6)I usually use a drag sled. It's fast, easy, and it takes into account any grades or super elevation. I have also tested my sled with test skids. And the sled is right on the money.
7)Environmental factors make a BIG difference. That's why the time to perform all the tests, is at the time of the accident. Not the next day, not the next month, not the next anything.

Paul Richardson
ffw@sprynet.com

NOTE: You are reading in an archived session of ARnews. It is possible that this topic is still being discussed. To see if this topic is still active, or of there were any more recent posts on this topic, check later archives of ARnews.

If there is no current post, and you would like to add to this topic, link to the Current ARnews Discussion and begin a new thread. Be sure that if you are starting a new post that the thread title does not contain the abbreviation RE: Placing RE: at the beginning of a new post will confuse Hypermail and prevent others from answering your post in the future.

For example, to continue this discussion look for a thread titled

Seven Drag Factor Questions

If this thread does not exist in the current archive, you can begin another one by using that title.