The Investigation of Automobile Collisions with Wooden Utility Poles and Trees  E-mail this product to a friend

The Investigation of Automobile Collisions
with Wooden Utility Poles and Trees
by Joseph N. Cofone

Automobile crashes with wooden utility poles and trees are probably the most common of all fixed object collisions. This manual introduces the traffic crash investigator to the methods of conducting a successful investigation of a crash between a vehicle and a wooden utility pole or other stationary object. Certainly central to the investigation is determining how fast the vehicle was traveling. The author addresses this concern by presenting equations that can be used to determine a sensible estimate of the vehicle’s speed at the time of impact.

In addition, Mr. Confone leads you step-by-step through a case scenario, where he points out what to observe at the crash scene, which measurements to take of the vehicle and which formulas you should use to calculate the vehicle’s speed at impact.

The book includes the following chapters:

• Information About and From Utility Poles
• Vehicle Collision Dynamics
• Measuring Vehicle Crush
  • Determining the Involved Surface
  • Determining Height of Damage
  • Location of Station Marks and Establishment of Baseline
  • Consideration of Free Space
  • PDOF Considerations
• Measuring Various Damage Patterns
  • Centered Frontal Impacts
  • Frontal Offset Impacts
  • Side Impacts with Vehicle Bowing
  • Side Pocketing
• Collision Speed Estimates
• Manually Computed Speed Estimates
• Computer Aided Speed Estimates
• Practical Applications

A glossary of terms and a listing of reference materials is included.

Joseph N. Cofone is a sergeant with the Fatal Accident Investigation Unit at the Bergen County New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office. He has received awards in police traffic safety and crash investigation and reconstruction and is a founding member of the New Jersey Association of Accident Reconstructionists.

Specifications: 56 pages; 8½”x11”; coil bound; 22 illustrations (black and white photos, figures, tables and charts); Publisher: IPTM (1996)