Background: The accident occurred when a car attempted to traverse a rough railroad track crossing. The driver lost control and veered leftward into a ditch. Vehicle response to the roughness of the pavement was the issue under investigation.
What We Did: To analyze the accident the HVE (Human Vehicle Environment) accident reconstruction software suite was employed. A complex and simplified environment were built. Both environments encompassed the rough railroad crossing and the undulating ground surrounding the roadway, obtained from a total station mapping of the actual scene. The simulation showed that the driver could indeed have lost control of the vehicle due to the roadway roughness.
Relevant Scientific Publications:
- Day, T. D. and Metz, L. D., "The Simulation of Driver Inputs Using a Vehicle Driver Model," SAE Paper No. 2000-01-1313 (2000) [also in SAE SP-1491 and in Trans. SAE, J. Passenger Cars – Mechanical Systems, 109: 6, pp. 1763-1769].