The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Bicyclist

Rod Macdonald (frmrmtr@aol.com)
Thu, 12 Feb 1998 22:16:18 -0500 (EST)

Hey - I got a cul-de-sac full of 'em in front of my house - now I can put 'em to use...

2 papers by Rusty Haight and Jerry Eubanks would be a good place to start:

"Accident Reconstruction for Bicycle-involved Traffic Collisions" and
"SAE 900368, Trajectory Analysis for Collisions Involving Bicycles and Automobiles"

the bicyclist's speed would be a function of the gearing of the particular bicycle and the pedal speed (rpm) generated by the bicyclist - (the "gear inch formula"), so, if you were to go out and observe some 7 year olds, you'd want to pay attention to the range of pedal speeds they were capable of generating.

I've also been taught that Searle's formula for pedestrian wrap trajectory formula can be used for vehicle vs bicycle collisions, using a larger range of take off angle though (up to 25 degrees). I used this method in a collision where I had very good evidence in the form of skid to stop from the vehicle and point of impact, and the results were supported by the impact speed I calculated from the skid.
Rod Macdonald
frmrmtr@aol.com

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