Question: what things do you take into consideration when investigating an accident

Mark Hill answered on 14 Mar 2011:

Hi,

Everything around the scene to do with mechanics, the environment, and people. When I lecture, I explain my investigations in two ways.

1. A collision scene is like a jig-saw. All the pieces are there, but no picture. It is down to the CI to work out the picture.

2. When I consider the causation factors, I liken it to looking down a long corridor, with lots of closed doors.

Each room represents a different potential causation factor. As I look into each room, so I consider and rule out that factor – mechanical failure with the vehicles, adverse weather (wind, ice, rain, fog etc.), other road users, driver medical event (ill at the wheel), drink/drug driving, road surface, driver psychology, distraction (mobile phones, stereos, passengers etc.) until I narrow it all down to the, or those, factor(s) that I cannot eliminate. Quite often I may give two or three options, having negated the others.

My investigations are based on a ‘grounded theory’ approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). I try not to hold a hypothesis, but look and see where the evidence takes me.

You asked a good valid question. Does this help?

Mark.