Evaluating the Uncertainty in Various Measurement Tasks Common to Accident Reconstruction

When performing calculations pertaining to the analysis of motor vehicle accidents, investigators must often select appropriate values for a number of parameters. The uncertainty of the final answers is a function of the uncertainty of each parameter involved in the calculation.

This paper presents the results of recent tests conducted to obtain sample distributions of some common parameters, including measurements made with tapes, measurements made with roller-wheels, skidmark measurements, yawmark measurements, estimation of crush damage from photographs, and drag factors, that can be used to evaluate the uncertainty in an accident reconstruction analysis. The paper also reviews the distributions of some pertinent data reported by other researchers.