Small things can make a big different. Things that we consider no a huge deal can end up having major consequences. I reckon most car accidents are this way. A few second before a crash happens, no one thinks that what they are doing is going to have serious consequences. When some guy pulling a boat driving up a mountain with switch backs starts slowing down, the people behind just want to get around him. One by one people pull out and floor-it on the straightaways. Eventually, though, there will be someone who thinks he can pass on a curve. He pulls out and starts to make his way around, when all of the sudden a semi-comes barreling around, and the rest is history. The potential for that kind of thing to happen is every where we go. We are always taking little risks. That is what happened several years ago, when a truck and trailer was going too fast and hit a limousine that was carrying a famous comedian. There were no cameras around, but with 3D laser scanning services, investigators were able to determine who was at fault.
Here is how the situation went down. A guy driving a truck hauling a trailer came speeding into a construction zone. Those trucks don’t stop as well as the little cars. He ended up smashing into a limousine, killing one and injuring another. On top of that he caused another six cars to be damaged. When investigator came to figure out what had happened, they first tried to determine whether or not he was mentally fit to be driving. Truck drivers have to put in a lot of hours on the road. It is tempting for them to stay on the road as much as possible to make that extra money. This is the reason why there are regulations that require drivers to rest for a specific amount of time before they are allowed to hit the highway. According to the rules, it seems that he was okay to drive. It wasn’t until they used 3D scanning services to the investigation, that they found another problem. It turns out that the guy was going way over the speed limit at the time of the crash.
So how did 3D laser scanning services help them determine the speed of the truck at the time of the incident? The guy was going about 65 mph, when he should have been doing about 45. How did they figure that out? They used 3D laser scanning services to examine the impact that the truck created when it hit the limo. The damage to the truck and the damage to the limo can be used to determine the speed at which he was traveling. By collecting a 3D digital model of the damage, they could run computer models to determine speed.
This teaches us all two things. Firstly, we shouldn’t think neglecting common sense safety will always be without consequence. This guy was charged with vehicular homicide. That’s not something that he was probably expecting the moments before it happened. Secondly, it shows us some cool use of 3D laser scanning services for forensics.