Damage Profiling and Physical Evidence: A Tutorial
Damage Profiling and
Physical Evidence: A Tutorial
by Wiley L. Howell
IPTM's newest publication, Damage Profiling and Physical
Evidence: A Tutorial, offers traffic crash investigators and reconstructionists
a unique way to practice the skills necessary to become proficient in damage
profiling. The booklet is accompanied by a CD-ROM containing pictures of
real-life crash scenes designed to sharpen your observation skills.
The principle behind using the tutorial is simple. For
each case, you are given information that you would normally receive as an
investigator. Then, you look at a series of photos, make notes about what you
observe and state your conclusion. Finally, you compare your notes to the actual
findings provided by the author. Each case requires you to determine specific
details by viewing only the damage that the photos show.
The author, Wiley Howell, is quick to point out that
damage profiling of any crash will not yield results of determining speed at
impact. Rather, it will help you determine whether or not the results of the
formulas used in reconstructing the crash are accurate, based on the evidence at
the scene. He wrote the tutorial to teach you how to become observant when
looking at the evidence before you.
The cases in Damage Profiling and Physical Evidence: A
Tutorial are as follows:
- Bus and skidmarks
- Truck striking utility pole
- Vehicle with extensive damage
- Unknown striking vehicle
- Another unknown striking vehicle
- Colliding vehicles and speed
- Vehicle rollover
- Crash with other information provided
- Two colliding vehicles
- Determining fault in a car/tractor-trailer collision
Wiley Howell is a 24-year veteran of the Tampa (Florida)
Police Department. After retirement, he established his own reconstruction
business while teaching traffic crash courses at IPTM. Mr. Howell has been ruled
an expert in both criminal and civil courts over several thousand times
throughout his career as a police officer and in private enterprise.
Note: A photo program is needed to open and view the
photos on the CD-ROM.
Specifications: 19 pages, 8-1/2”x11”, saddle stitched,
38 photos; Publisher: IPTM (January 2002)
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