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ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION DEFINED
The Accreditation Committee for Traffic Accident Reconstruction defines accident reconstruction as 'a systematic process of evaluating the evidence associated with a particular collision sequence and applying accepted physical principles in order to ascertain how the collision occurred.' The Society of Automotive Engineers Paper No. 870425 defined stated 'automobile accident reconstruction has been defined as the best or most probable explanation of how an automobile accident occurred, based upon physical evidence.'
Accident Reconstruction is an applied science wherein the legal community calls on engineers and qualified accident reconstructionists to provide analysis, consultation, and expert testimony in order to explain what happened in the accident and why. Accident Reconstruction is a multi-disciplinary field that involves the collection and interpretation of physical evidence, the application of physics and engineering principles to quantifying motion and collision dynamics, and modeling both actual and alternative scenarios to study the effects of critical driver, vehicle, and environmental variables.
The VSI Professional Staff in Accident Reconstruction have advanced degrees in Engineering, Professional Engineering (P.E.) licenses, specialized training in accident reconstruction, and research and testing experience that uniquely qualifies them to analyze complex accidents. Typical analyses include:
 Hi-speed rollover collisions; loss of control and rollover dynamics
Intersection collisions; time/speed/distance, perception/reaction, signal timing
Collision dynamics; automobile, truck, bicycle, pedestrian
Accident Reconstruction analytical methods and procedure typically includes review of police documented evidence, extraction of evidence from photographs via photogrammetry, inspection of the subject vehicles and accident site, download and interpretation of airbag computer modules (CDR Crash Data Retrieval), laser survey of accident sites, interpretation and application of experimental data and scientific literature, and state-of-the-art mathematical modeling and Computer Simulation.
In addition to providing high quality engineering analyses VSI separates themselves from other accident reconstruction firms by a) providing complementary services of biomechanics and human factors that together provide a complete picture of the liability and damage components of a legal case, and b) effective communication and sophisticated presentation skills to present accurate, detailed understanding of how the accident occurred permitting our clients to assess and prove their legal position.
In addition to Accident Reconstruction services, VSI offers a Rapid Response service that provides clients managing catastrophic accidents with a 24/7 option to have VSI respond, document, and preserve physical evidence that is sometimes only available at the scene within hours/days of the accident. This service has proven to be invaluable in collecting evidence critical to complex accident reconstruction analyses and as often resulted in preliminary reports that have prevented litigation.
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