The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Vericom VC2000

Jim Mitchell (jfmitch@bconnex.net)
Thu, 23 Jan 1997 02:39:28 -0500 (EST)

Got a kick out of the discussion on the VC2000. In 1987 I bought a VC200 and field tested it over 6 months (winter to summer) for AR use. Wrote an article on same for the CATAIR newsletter. Got a phone call from Richard Jobe then President of the Vericom Corporation who advised me that they were considering developing a new model for AR work and that my write up, as favorable as it was, really impressed them. Maybe I'm just a little responsible for bringing this technology to the AR world from the drag racing crowd (who it was originally intended for). I've done enough cross checking of this instrument to know that you don't have to know calculus to explain it in a court. If it works it works. I agree with one of the commentators on this article that "time" is the best method for determining the average drag factor. The .2 G initilization required to start the accelerometer can't compete with the built in clock which I believe activates before that. Using the imperial the for
mula is : f = (.0156 x S)/ t and the metric is f = (.0283 x S) / t. The next time you're out testing skidding vehicles (non-abs) take a stopwatch and watch the tires when braking starts activate the watch and stop it when the vehicle stops. By the time the guys get their measuring tape unravelled and they radio back the radar speed you'll already know the drag factor. I've done this dozens of times and have never been out by more than .02 G.

Jim Mitchell
jfmitch@bconnex.net

NOTE: You are reading in an archived session of ARnews. It is possible that this topic is still being discussed. To see if this topic is still active, or of there were any more recent posts on this topic, check later archives of ARnews.

If there is no current post, and you would like to add to this topic, link to the Current ARnews Discussion and begin a new thread. Be sure that if you are starting a new post that the thread title does not contain the abbreviation RE: Placing RE: at the beginning of a new post will confuse Hypermail and prevent others from answering your post in the future.

For example, to continue this discussion look for a thread titled

Vericom VC2000

If this thread does not exist in the current archive, you can begin another one by using that title.