Advanced Traffic Crash Investigation

NOTE: If the attendee is not from the immediate area, room and meals will be the responsibility of the attendee. The Academy will not furnish rooms and meals for this class.

ALERT! Attendee must furnish a scientific calculator for this course.

In modern law enforcement departments crash investigation requirements have developed into more than report writing and evidence gathering. There is a constant demand for more in-depth crash investigation to answer the age old question: who was at fault? This situation requires departments to have personnel with expertise in the higher levels of crash investigation.

This course is for the experienced law enforcement officer, supervisor or traffic homicide investigator who has had crash investigation training and is proficient in gathering evidence at the scene, measuring, scale diagramming and estimating minimum speed from skidmarks. Upon graduation from this course~ the student will have advanced to the next level of traffic crash investigation and obtained a relatively high degree of technical expertise in this field.

Applicants for this course should have successfully completed the At-Scene Traffic Investigation course.

Topics Include:

• Speed estimates from kinetic energy, skidmarks, scuffmarks and airborne situations
• Vehicle dynamics and motion
• Time, distance, and motion equations
• Conservation of momentum calculations
• Diagramming vehicle damage
• Vehicle damage analysis explaining thrust~ center of mass~ overlap and collapse
• Vehicle lamp examination
• Tire damage evaluation
• Advanced photography and video techniques
• Vector sum analysis