Williamson Forensic Consulting - Specializing in Motor Vehicle Accident Reconstruction

Just as good data form the foundation for a good analysis, good analysis of a collision must be the foundation for any animation.  The animations here were made with the collision analysis program PC-Crash.  PC-Crash is primarily a very powerful analysis tool, but also happens to produce high quality animations.  The animations are therefore true to the original analysis, and obey all of the laws of physics.  This is an important distinction that separates PC-Crash animations from many other animations.

The animations shown below are streamed and as a result the quality of the video may be slightly less than what can be achieved when an original video is rendered for playing from a computer, CD or DVD

Copyright 2010
Animations
Animation 2: In this case, a motorcycle was behind a car, and they proceeded through the intersection, as the car was reported to be travelling very slowly.  The motorcycle entered the right lane and attempted to turn into a driveway when the leading vehicle turned right also, causing collision with the motorcycle.  The analysis examined two aspects.  One was to assess whether the descriptions indicate that the motorcycle was being in an aggressive or unsafe manner, and the second was to assess at what times the motorcycle would have been visible to the driver.  To demonstrate the visibility and synchronize the timing, all of the views, including those through mirrors were all combined into one video. This is shown at the end of this video.
Animation 1: A 15 passenger van was travelling on the highway when the right rear tire tread separated, and the tire blew.  This causes a loss of directional control at the right rear wheel.  Although there is drag from the wheel causing the vehicle to initially steer to the right, the driver's corrective actions to stay in his lane cause a loss of control as the vehicle is turned to the left.  This failure of the right rear wheel and the physical properties of the loaded van creates an oversteer condition from which the driver cannot recover.  The vehicle leaves the road as it rolls over.
Animation 3: In this case, a cyclist collides with a car.  The damage to the car shows the area where the front wheel was during the initial collision, and where the rider collided with the windshield.  The lateral motion of the cyclist across the front of the vehicle between the first and second collision can be used to assess the relative speeds of the vehicle and the cyclist.