In a car accident in what ways can you tell if the other car was speeding?

Question

In a car accident in what ways can you tell if the other car was speeding?

Answer 1

Stress tests on metal give some indication of how fast the vehicles were traveling, but it's not an accurate indicator.  The major zones on the car (frame, crumple zones, etc.) are well documented and from damage done to the vehicles, an approximation of the speed can be determined.

As for skid marks,  vehicles with anti-lock brakes don't leave skid marks, so if the vehicles involved had anti-lock brakes, there will be no skid marks with which to make calculations.  

Some deflection happens during the crash, and given the weight of the vehicles, and how far they were 'deflected' from their 'pre-crash' course, some indication of speed can also be derived.  This too, is a fairly inaccurate indicator of speed, given the number of unknown variables, but it can narrow dowh the speed of the vehicles to a fairly close figure.

Some newer vehicles 'cache' the last few seconds of computer data for retrieval in the event of a collision for this exact reason (information such as engine speed, vehicle speed, the gear that the car was in, etc.). However, if the vehicle was operational after the crash, and the car has been operated since, this information may no longer be available.

Answer 2

how bad the impact was. if someone was going 10mph and crash into u, there shouldnt be much damage but if someone was going 100mph and crash into u that car would be destroyed.

Answer 3

Skid marks and the amount of damage are concrete indicators.  So would a radar gun readout, but that probably wasn't there.  Photographs which are time stamped (such as from a traffic camera) would be good, a movie that can be timed is also good.  A driver who was passed and can give a statement as to how fast he was passed might be good.  Otherwise, you're out of luck.

Answer 4

Tire marks on the road.

Answer 5

skid mark length is used all the time

Answer 6

by the skid marks that the other car left there is a mathmatical calculation of skid marks to determine how fast the other car was going.  

The POlice should of taken these measurments if there were skid marks.  If the other driver did not hit the brakes or if it was raining there will not be skidmarks.

Answer 7

1. the amount of dollar damage.

2. the amount of vehicle damage.

3. the amount of skid marks.