Motorcycle speed calculation method based on motorcyclist projection distance

Abstract

The use of motorcycles as a means of transport has intensified a lot lately; unfortunately, the number of accidents involving motorcyclists has also increased. In such cases, the role of the forensic scientist is to reconstruct the dynamics of the event, and must, among other things, determine the speed of the vehicles involved. This work consists of proposing a method for calculating the speed of motorcycles involved in traffic accidents in cases where the projection of the rider occurs. To do this, the aim is to determine the speed with which the rider's body is designed. In the procedure, the total projection distance is divided into two phases: flight and slip. The calculation of the body's fall time during the flight phase was made without approximations and, in the slip phase, the slope angle of the terrain was included. After obtaining the equation of the projection speed of the rider's body, an equation is deduced to calculate the speed developed by the motorcycle at the collision time. Finally, considering the uncertainty margins inherent to the measurement processes of the input variables, the Monte Carlo method was applied to analyze real cases and to evaluate the confidence interval of the result found.

Keywords:
Forensic Science; Forensic Physics; Traffic accident reconstruction; Motorcyclist; Speed calculation