Pedestrian / Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle and pedestrian accident investigations are much different from vehicle-to-vehicle collisions due to the small amount of obvious physical evidence available at the scene. With the large disparity in object weights, the elastic and articulated nature of a pedestrian, and the various trajectories associated with an impact, special training and experience are needed to identify evidence and carry out an engineering analysis. Due to the subtle nature of the evidence, the accident scene and vehicle should be secured as soon as possible after the event. The determination of the point of impact and orientation of the pedestrian are critical in establishing positions across, and along, the roadway. The pedestrian at rest and vehicle debris are often the only physical evidence which can be identified at a scene.

Timing of pedestrian movements relative to the pedestrian signal operations and understanding traffic and pedestrian and signal timing and integration is often a factor in the investigation of pedestrian accidents.

Many of the elements of pedestrian accidents, including collision avoidance potential, visibility, impact speeds, etc., can be further analyzed depending on the specifics of the accident. Having investigated over 100 pedestrian accidents, attended courses on pedestrian collision investigation, and developed a large internal library of technical papers and video tapes, HRYCAY is adept at advising clients on the important elements needed for documentation purposes and for carrying out a detailed engineering analysis as required.