Title: The interpretation of collision scratch marks

Authors: I. Winkler

Addresses: Research Institute of the Automotive Industry, Hungary

Abstract: In most cases car-body damage caused by a glancing impact does not involve damage to important parts of the car (i. e. the car can be driven despite aesthetic loss or risk of corrosion). An important case is the scratching on the car body caused by a passing truck with one of the nuts (or bolts) sticking out of the wheel rim. In such a case the scratch marks have special shapes. When the rim and the tyre diameter of the scratching vehicle is known, the dimensions of the scratch shape are sufficient to determine the relative velocity of the two vehicles. If the velocity of one of the vehicles is known, one can also determine the duration of the contact and the velocity of the other vehicle, information which could be interesting in police or insurance investigations.

Keywords: collision scratch marks; relative velocity; impact duration; damage; scratch mark dimensions; car body damage; glancing impact; vehicle scratches.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1980.061361

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1980 Vol.1 No.2, pp.173 - 176

Published online: 25 May 2014 *

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