THE APPLICATION OF THE SMAC ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAM TO ACTUAL HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS

The Simulation Modal of Automobile Collisions (SMAC) computer program was developed to allow highway accidents to be accurately reconstructed by operators without a detailed background of engineering mechanics. This paper is designed to show how the program makes this possible. A brief summary of how SMAC works is given and the paper then goes on to cite actual cases of highway accidents showing how they can be successfully reconstructed. The sensitivity of the "final reconstruction" to the various program inputs is discussed; this gives an indication of how the operator may adjust these inputs to obtain a "best fit" with the minimum number of iterations. It is concluded that in general the precision with which an accident can be reconstructed will be limited by the accuracy of the available scene data. To overcome this Calspan is presently developing an accident reconstruction vehicle (CALVAN) to be used in conjunction with SMAC. This will provide a capability of processing and evaluating accident scene data, using an optical measurement system and mini computer which will then be input to SMAC via a radio link with a remote computer. The reconstructed accident will then be transmitted and displayed visually onboard the van.

• Corporate Authors:

  American Association for Automotive Medicine

  801 Green Bay Road
  Lake Bluff, IL  United States  60044

  American Association for Automotive Medicine

  1211 West 22nd Street
  Oak Brook, IL  United States  60523
• Authors:
  • Jones, I S
  • Segal, D J
• Conference:
  • 18th Annual Conference of the American Association for Automotive Medicine
  • Location: Toronto Ontario, Canada
  • Date: 1974-9-12 to 1974-9-14
• Publication Date: 1974

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19 p.
• Serial:
  • Volume: 18

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Computer programs; Crash investigation; Optical measurement; Reconstruction; Simulation; Traffic crashes
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00081293
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Contract Numbers: DOT-HS-047-1-063, DOT-HS-031-2-303, DOT-FH-11-7526
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 26 1975 12:00AM