Laurence Penn, CFVT and Hugh Borbidge, BSME, Animation Consultants

When a fatal collision occurred between a motorcycle and SUV at a city intersection, we were asked whether obstructed sight lines may have contributed to the incident.

Two surveillance videos which captured the events leading up to the collision were obtained and provided the foundation for the photogrammetry analysis within the accident reconstruction. From the video, it can be observed that there were several vehicles parked at/near the intersection. A box-truck parked near a crosswalk, the vehicle of interest for this case, was scrutinized as a possible obstruction to the approaching motorcycle and SUV operators.

The two videos were synchronized, and the camera locations were established by correlating multiple points on the 2D image plane to their 3D positions in space measured by high density LIDAR scans of the site.

The trajectories of the motorcycle and SUV were also solved by matching points on the 2D image frames to 3D scale models of the vehicles. The stationary vehicles parked along the roadway including the box truck were also analyzed and accurately placed within the scene. With 3D cameras placed at both operators’ positions, simulating their approaching views of the intersections, it was concluded that the presence of the box truck did not further impede the line of sight which already existed from the surrounding vehicles at the intersection.

Laurence Penn, CFVT and Hugh Borbidge, BSME, Animation Consultants with DJS Associates, Inc., can be reached via email at experts@forensicDJS.com or via phone at 215-659-2010.