The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Pedestrian Accident Reconstruction

Ed Phillips (edphill@aol.com)
Fri, 14 Nov 1997 10:01:40 -0500 (EST)

Let me leave no one perplexed. (P.S. Pissed-off doesn't fall under perplexity) O.K., first off as the car pushes on the ped, two things are happening (1) A portion of the body is getting accelerated "north", and (2) large blunt impact forces are being delivered. (1) causes the body to be accelerated "north", and rotation is the push is applied below the c.g. (2) causes blunt force injuries, lacerations, fractures, abrasions. As the body remains in contact with the car (1) and (2) continue to occur to lesser or greater degrees.

Now when the body is free of the car, it has the motion induced by interacting with the car. (Northerly). The car passes underneath because it remains with-in a couple of mph of it's original speed. (Newton 3). The body (because of the eccentric strike) does not obtain a common velocity northerly, but aquires some portion of the speed and some goes into rotational energy. When it is airborn it is in relative freefall, with-out much drag, but some.

At ground impact the higher G-loads will typically be near initial landing sites. If there is no communication of what was inside the body to the outside, then these are also likely events to cause that. Car strikes tend to be higher loads than ground strikes (more focused). The body moves north, the force applied by the car pushed in that direction. Friction ALWAYS acts to oppose motion. The body travels generally in the direction of the car. Pre-impact motion, edge strikes etc. can cause a vector in an off major axis direction.

Jim Potts your e-mail address is unrecognized.

Ed
Ed Phillips
edphill@aol.com

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