The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Photographing faint skid marks

Ed Phillips (ephillpw@co.san-diego.ca.us)
Thu, 22 May 1997 10:38:34 -0400 (EDT)

I've discussed this briefly with Pete already. My recommendation (besides the filters and walking about the scene to locate your greatest contrast) is to also carry a paint can that can spray upside down. Engineering supply stores carry these. Photograph the scene as is, and then bracket the ends of the tire marks, gouges, etc. Along the length of the mark I also paint a small dot about every ten feet. Then I re-photograph the scene. This really helps with the contrast of the black on grey, of the tire deposit on the road surface. When showing the scene to the lay jury the contrast is quite remarkable and the "connect the dots" helps to focus them on what you saw. If a scene is a real mess with a lot of evidence, multiple color paint can be used to differentiate the marks. Also, a can of similar type black paint can be used to paint over the paint marks you set down after you've collected all the evidence, IF you think it's too distracting to a driver. Otherwise, let it rema
in it'll fade out fairly quickly and if you have to go back later with the DA or someone, you can more readily identify the locations of the evidence.

Ed
Ed Phillips
ephillpw@co.san-diego.ca.us

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