The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Reconstruction Resources Library

Terry Fischer (tfisch100@aol.com)
Sun, 7 Dec 1997 00:06:30 -0500 (EST)

Finding the right set of reference material is a long and arduous task. A lot of it depends on your area of expertise.

SAE puts out a lot of documents relating to vehicle design and safety. There are several series of books related to accident reconstruction, biomechanics and the papers presented at the Stapp conference. While some of these have very interesting titles, they don't always live up to expectation. They don't always have the meat a reconstructionist needs. If you have a chance, attend an SAE seminar, or just go to the seminar's bookstore. There you can review their books before you buy.

There is a CD from SAE which has all of the papers presented at the Stapp Car Crash Conferences from the conference's inception through 1996. It sells for about $299 (US) if I'm not mistaken. I have this CD. I use two or three papers out of it on a regular basis. 95% of the papers, I'll never use or read. They do provide a good search program for the package which is invaluable.

SAE now sells an on-line service to access their databases. I've not evaluated that.

As Wade indicated, SAE is working on a compendium type of CD for the reconstructionist. I talked to people at SAE last week and they expect it to be finished during the first quarter of 1998. Whether that is January 1 or March 31, remains to be seen. They aren't quoting a price. Based upon the price of the Stapp CD, I would expect it to cost in the $300 - $500 range. That's not a bad price when you consider how much information can be put on a CD.

It would a good project for the governing board of ACTAR to compile a reference list for reconstructionists. Or at sponsor a committee to put one together. It could be posted and updated on their web site.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting.

Terry Fischer
tfisch100@aol.com

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