COLLISION analysts and /reconstructionists try to figure out the causes s for crashes like the n nine- car pile up in Kitwanga i in April‘of last year. 19, RCMP experts solve car crash cases using math’ and logic By KAT LEE | THE FULLY-LOADED logging truck traveled down the roadway at full speed, and it wasn’t stopping anytime soon. The trailer swayed at the turn, leaving a trail of dark tire marks. The » back wheels lifted off the ground, tilting the truck at a 45 degree angle. Finally, the truck tipped over with a crash and slid across the pavement, ‘spilling logs on the way down. The dust settled and ‘the police . went to examine the wreckage. ' No one was hurt, because no one was in the truck. - The remote-controlled truck was deliberately crashed with RCMP of- ficers and more than 300 engineers from ‘all over the world standing by. "Por the 'colfision reconstruction guys, it was one of the best:days on the job. O° The RCMP, ICBC, and engineers from the University of British Co- lumbia set up the crash so they could find out how certain collision factors relate to mathematical equations. The truck had 21 cameras mount- ed on it so collision reconstruction analysts could examine it from ev- ery angle. From this information, they can look at the physical evidence that was produced and apply it to every- day situations on the road. _ “We consider ourselves the CSI guys of car crashes,” says Corpo- ral Pat McTiernan, a Terrace-based RCMP collision reconstruction- ist who has investigated more than 3,500 collisions throughout his 27- year career. o “The evidence doesn't - fie - that’s what we do, we consider the evidence.” - Cpl. Pat McTiernan There are just 14 collision re- constructionists in the province. McTiernan is currently one of the two collision reconstructionists for northern B.C. With the other reconstructionist — located in Prince George, McTier- nan investigates all crashes from Burns Lake to Queen Charlotte Is- lands, and north up to the Yukon: “My focus is on crash investiga- tion,” he says. “I'll look at the scene and examine all the evidence that’s there.” This means he photographs, doc- — uments, surveys, and measures the scene to understand the human, me- chanical, and environmental causes to the crashes. McTiernan also examines vehi- cles and occupants to determine the cause of the crash. He’ll know when occupants are lying about seat-belt use by looking for burn marks 0 on the _ Seat-belts. ‘T ll go back to the car and look ° at things like DNA, blood, and inju- ries,” he says. McTiernan’s seen people with the imprint of the Ford emblem on their chest. In a recent crash in Ter- — the pieces together again,” he says. race, he found a jean imprint on the car.. The worst ones, he says, are the crashes involving children. But he continues on with his work. He’s reconstructed more than 300 of the more complicated collisions he’s been called in to investigate. ables of distance and momentum. from his experimental crashes. He examines the types of injuries on pedestrians and vehicle occu- pants and looks at'where they land . _ and how it affected them. __After adding human, road, weath- er, and environmental factors to the equation, McTiernan gets a good picture of what- happened to cause « the collision. “When. you’re done, you put all Sometimes what ‘he. finds goes against popular opinion. One time, what was believed to be a car accident in Williams Lake was actually found to be a murder, Another time, police in Alexis “It’s something t that has tobedone!-; Creek thought they .had a murder “Because we have to find out’ what the,» disguised as a.car crash. After his" dynamics of the crash were,” “McTi- eman says. Reconstructing collisions helps him find out what really happened. “We can actually calculate the speed of a car through the tire marks,” he says. Finding out things like how far a pedestrian went after getting hit or finding out ‘the speed of the car from tire marks comes from high school physics. Some of the equations are so complex that they take all day to finish, but they are all variations of basic high school formulas. “T got 54 in physics. My parents . ‘can’t believe what I’m doing,” Mc- Tiernan says. -McTiernan has since mastered the. math and physics equations, which is good since he uses them everyday to figure out time/distance or pedes- — trian trajectory. “You need to have the scientific fact behind it,” he says. You also need practical skills and © tests to see if the formula works: - At a recent health and safety conference in Terrace, McTiernan recreated scenario after scenario of test truck and car crashes in which his team has participated. He hap- pily showed pictures of himself in a - i‘. vehicle flying off ramps. But besides crashing vehicles for - _ equations and fun, he’s also crash- ing them for credibility. Part of the job of a collision re- construction analyst is giving evi- dence in court, and he has to prove _.to the court that he’ S an expert every single time. _ Being able to say that he knows the results to certain equations be- — cause he has physically tried it boosts his credibility and expertise. - “We look at the dynamics of the tests and see how they can be applied to investigations,” McTieman says. And so he finds out different vari-: , _investigation, McTiernan found tiat the evidence pointed to a car crash. . CORPORAL Pat McTiernan examines the tire of a car to find out if the tire was the reason for the crash. dence.” “tal crashes — we look at everything. “ various‘ projects: vay FILE PHOTO a “The evidence doesn’t lie - that’s what we do, we consider the evi- “McTiernan also tries to. figure out what factors will decrease the number of crashes and i improve road conditions. That’s become a growing part of how engineers design roads and: - highways so that travel routes are — safe if driven correctly. -_ “We don’t restrict ourselves to fa- v We’re the nerds of the car crash i in- vestigation teams,” he says. The “nerds” are building a brand new state-of-the-art vehicle-launch- ing ramp in Vancouver, which they'll use as a testing. tool for their “I love what I. do,” McTiernan says. And he’s just doing his job. ‘KAT LEE PHOTO _ electrical production and ‘and not misconceptions I - Quebec where many of The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 22, 2005 -.A5S a _CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD . The Mail Bag No need to shout Dear Sir: I was recently at the post office, when-I witnessed something most disturbing — a disgruntled postal worker. I had never witnessed one to date. This was scary. During the first week in June I walked in to mail a pack-- age. . a I got on line and focussed my attention on the front, as we.all do when waiting in line. Two Asian men were attempting to use the postal services. ‘They obviously did something wrong, because this woman’ behind the.desk was practically shouting at them. It seemed that they had trouble deciphering her instructions, so of course she went over postal regulations in’a louder more aggravated very slowed tone. Possibly she was attempting t to get them to understand the way this service works. But if one does not under- stand English, yelling . the language does not make the message more Clear. . As a federal institution serving a multicultural com- munity, shouldn’t there be directions available in different languages? Surely the government can come up. with that, they are great at printing messages on paper informing _ their citizens of everything else. ' Needless to say the two Asian men left in confusiofi and anger, as they were practically screaming at each oth- er in frustration as they stormed out. , As I approached the counter 1 began to give instruc- tions on how I wanted my package to be mailed. I used an unusually loud and clear voice, explaining my needs very slowly, mirroring what she had done to the former ‘customers. oS e I quickly stopped. I got the § same reaction from her as - she got from those two fellows, moving away with agita- tion. In a small multi- cultural community like Terrace, this is unacceptable behaviour. .I would like to hope’ that this was a one time incident and that she was just in avery bad mood. Well, I can only hope. ‘K. Croslin, Terrace,B. Cc. It’s a bunch of bull | - Dear Sir: Ms. Zimmerman should check the ‘spell check? fea- ture on her computer. The June 15, 2005 headline said. “Mayor Bullish on city future.” Bullish is very close, but another word comes to mind ..... The mayor spouted words about taxes being tied to ‘the value appraised on neighbouring houses. While I. agree (and hope) that the city will soon see an economic turn- around, the appraised value of my house has gone down ~ and down and down over the last three years, but my taxes. continue to go up and up. we Most of the new humongus hoiises that have. been built lately are in a subdivision néar the college. a ‘While I'd like to see’ the Terrace Lumber Company make a go of it, I cannot come close to understanding why their taxes are anticipated to be $550,000 less than the previous tenant. And where are the savings from two winters of mini- _ Mal snow removal? And what possible advantage gould. building a rail spur to the airport lands provide over ‘truck- ing to Prince Rupert or Kitimat? . That sounds like the old expression ’ “My ‘ship finally came in, 1, but I was at the airport.... Chris Spangl, Terrace B.C. _ Alcan info needed Dear Sir: In response to the full- page advertisement paid by Alcan concerning its how it is used:in a recent edition of your newspaper, 1 offer these comments. Since Alcan has allud- ed to dealing with facts question the corporation as to why all the facts are not put out for analysis. f The opportunity has- - been presented to me on many occasions to visit the Saguenay . region. of | "Ross Slezak the smelters listed in their advertisement are situ- ated. While it is: true that new technology allows for more tonnage output with less people the facts are many of the jobs lost through new technology inthe older smelters have been replaced through the ability of workers to trans- fer from the older smelters to smelters with new technol- _ ogy in the region. - Furthermore, unlike Kitimat, the population base in the Saguenay is significantly higher which has given Alcan . the ability to encourage | industries within the communities to spring up in support of providing auxiliary services to _the smelters. * Alcan’s ability to share resources ‘within the many smelters in the region has also been of significant benefit to the population base in the Saguenay. It is with great foresight that the provincial government of Quebec tied the people’s resource such as acce§s to wa- ter for hydro to building replacement smelters with new technology, which will be a permanent fixture well into this century in the region. _ In Kitimat, after many years of discussion and broken promises, Alcan has yet to make any serious commitment as to reinvestment in any new smelter or refit of the cur- rent smelter. What Alcan is stating in their advertisement i is not fac- Five levels of collision expertise THE FIVE jevels of collision reconstruction a are briefly explained below: . ; Level 1 - Basic collision investigation Every police officer gets level 1 training, where. they learn the basic skills and techniques of collision investigation. Level 2 - Collision investigation Participants take a 5-6 day course and learn how to preserve physical evidence. They learn how to protect the scene, identify and preserve evidence, measure and record information, and photograph the scene. Level 3- ‘Collision analysis Aftercompleting the three- -week course, level 3sare under the supervision of a level 4 reconstructionist for a year to build up experience. The level 4 checks over the accident to make sure nothing. was missed. After level 3 is completed, they are eligible to take additional courses focusing on pedestrian, surveying, motorcycles, and commercial vehicle collisions. Level 3 analysts can be called to court as experts. Level 4 - Collision reconstruction Level 4s take measurements of the scene and use tual, its misleading and is simply a matter of comparing apples to oranges. computer software to reconstruct the crash. Since It is about time Alcan comes clean with the people they concentrate on the finer points of collisions, they are trained to look at factors like angles and momentum as well as considering the human holds. mechanical, and environmental causes of the Ross Slezak, Terrace, B.C. crash. They will also be called upon as experts in , ‘court. A level 4 officer tests equipment a and ‘can — begin training officers. About the Mail Bag ‘Level 5 - Cause analysis The Terrace Standard welcomes letters. Our address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G S5R2. You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at newsroom @terracestandard.com. No attachments, please. Name, address and phone number required for verification. There is only one known level 5 in Canada, and he is a university professor in Ontario. Level 5 considers human factors like fatigue and mindset to determine the cause of the crash. in Terrace — Kitimat and divulge exactly what the future