Road Crash Investigation 1001: Part 1

1. A friend of mine, while we are concentrating on taking data for delta-V calculation, A.Rahmat had suddenly snapped me, "Hey dudeee, you know what, long time ago about 1400 years ago, there was an expert who can follow the trace of any animals or anything that travelling in the desert".

2. Wowahhh! "But I forgot lah what is his name.." Pewhhh, doesnt matter lah bro, lets assume his name is Labu ok? "Whatever lah.." Regardless of the matter, he is continuing the story. Cheh, that's A.Rahmat, knowing no stop if ever started something hehe. "Well, that Labu guy was being chosen by Mecca Quraisy people to use his expertise to track our beloved prophet (peace be upon him) who at that time, was migrating from Mecca to the south (Yemen), towards Gua Tsur".

3. From Wiki-Pedia-Tuh, I just know that this Labu guy is actually really really genius guy. You know why? There was a case where from unknown trace on the desert ground, he knew that the trace was coming from a one-sided blind camel together with a cripple puppy!!

4. This guy is really a hustler in his proficiency!! Just imagine, on the desert where there will be no fixed geography, and with the terrain keep changing (because of the winds), Labu still can do his job wisely. See how hustler he was back then. In the sirah, the prophet (p.b.u.h) reported had to tiptoeing in the efforts to leaving no trails behind.

5. What happen next bro? "Well duudee, actually I just want to hook you up with interesting introduction, things that I really want to tell you is in the crash site, even though not in the desert, actually there are traces that we can get and intrepet or benefits from those, and it is called skid mark". Wow you sound like Labu lah bro hehe. Please proceed bro, I'm listening.

6. "Old news paper!! Old news paperrrr!! Tilam pun bolehhhh" Heloo apek, do you know what is skid marks? "Aiyaaa skid mark ka, easy looo, you CSI pun dunno ka? Aiyaaa, skid mark itu rubber from the tyre sticks on the ground when you push your break hard laaa, thats why ade marks itu black dark on the road".

7. That's what my first thinking when I first join the investigation team, however popular belief is not always right. Is that right A.Rahmat? "Yeah, apek is wrong. skid mark is actually coming from instaneous heating to the bitumen itself". "Aiyaaa, what is bitumen u guys talking? like ultramen ka?" No lah apek, bitumen is materials used for paving roads. And the skid mark is not always dark/black, because in some rare cases, there are also white skid mark. But according to A.Rahmat, it is really a rare case. "Good good, now I know la"

8. Is this skid mark really significant in crash investigation? We all have seen, if you observing enough, lots of skid marks on our roads. In most cases you can just ignore the marks, if only you just passer by.

9. How about for crash investigator or police? "Well, For those kind of people, in the case of pedestrian crash, skid mark was really important as it is mainly used to determine whether the car was actually breaking before the impact or not. This is to establish whether the driver was purposely hitting the pedestrian or merely a regular pedestrian crash". Quite complicated huh but very promising method in court.

10. Mat, how many types of skid mark we could see on road eh. "There are many types of skid marks. There are regular skid mark, yaw mark, accelaration scuff, imprint, kink, crook, and many more which is beyond discussion here.

11. Every single of them carries different meaning and different intepretation. All these stuffs are useful in the court on prosecuting someone on aggrasive driving". Oh, so many things to learn eh, on next section, you have to tell me about those things. Dun skip skip eh like this time.

12. You know what peeps, my current research is now to solve crash compatibility issue between light and heavy vehicles. When brainstorming the ideas with Dr. Ali, an expert in crash analysis from UK, i come up with something about to hardened to front of light vehicles.

13. Well logically speaking, the transfer energy between those same stiff parts wud benefits light vehicle. But he was not agree with my idea. You know why? Mat, how bout you tell us. Ok? "Ok sure fren, well, most pedestrian died in the crashes due to hitting stiffer part of the bonnet.

14. If you aware enough..some cars have engine under the bonnet, and some not, just empty...hmm and this empty space bonnet is usually less stiff compared to those that have engine inside..so if our head hitting this stiff part, what do you think will happen? Your life wont be long for sure, especially if you hit A-Pillar.

15. But, there are some cases people can survive, probably they managed to hit windscreen instead of the stiffer parts. Plus, different gait analysis (the way the pedestrian walk during the hit) does effect how that unfortunate guy being thrown away after the hit. You got it bro?" Yeah. How bout you guys? Not like rocket science eh. Easy, piece of cake. In no time, I believe you can just understand things like that.

16. Anything more you want to add bro? Faster, coz we have to finish collecting data for these crashed vehicles. "Let me see, hmmm oh one more thing, from oil spill, we cud know where is rest position of the car. Usually at the point of impact, there are pool of oil, and will move down to side of the road".

17. Ewwwwww so creepy! So you implied that the oil substance can move around? Wowahhh. "No lah bro, that because the road is actually designed like that, 5% gradient at the middle so that the water from the rain will go down to lower area which is side of the road and not pooling at the middle of road., got it?". Yeah bro. Crystal clear hehe.

18. Ok we better finish this job, the sun already hitting my skin hard. See it turn dark! Arghh my bright skin turning darkk!! Bright la sgttttttttt hahahahahah. Thx to A.Rahmat for sharing this knowledge with us.

Don't you agree? Feel free to add and comments..

How We Could Lighten the Severity of the Crash?

Hey folks, if u are aware of the news, about 3 months ago, a crash happened between a 4WD and a car in a road construction area.

1. "Err did you say road contruction area where usually the location shud be barricaded and managed properly?!!" Yeah absolutely. "Why so?". Hmm how shud i put this eh. I think you can try ask our dear ex-minister of Public Works. He quite free at the moment as I heard. But things happen. I'll talk about construction traffic management matter later on. But lets focus on how we could lighten the severity of the crash.

(Courtesy to Local News)

2. "How many fatalities on this wreckage?" Syuhh, be patient. I'm about to say it. 2 died (from the car), 3 severely injured and 1 just so and so only on this crash. (Lets pray in silence for the victims....).

3. Two were dead due to having severe head injury and of course, from the post-inspection, the driver and the front passenger of the car didnt buckle up the seat belt resulting being partially ejected and get contacted with intrusion of the damage.

4. Well, if they were using the seatbelt, nothing much can be done, the survivability space was very tight already coz the accident involving crash compatibility issue and i'll talk about this matter later on too hehe.

5. Actually on this entry, I still want to talk about rear seatbelt. There is a saying that hit it while its hot.

6. From the picture (4WD interior), we can see the reality during the crash. The rear passenger, lets say his name is X, was not buckled up and during the crash was thrown forward and hit the back seat of Y, who was a driver.

7. Y's head instantly hit the steering wheel and bleeding profusely even Y was using his seatbelt. Fortunately, he made it to be still alive. You know why? "Yeah now i know, coz X from the back become an elephant and load the frontal seat, oh the impact also made the seat's anchorage failed and locked the driver into tight space.

8. Also, if we see from picture from the news, the crumple zone of 4WD still far from the driver, and logically he was not supposed to be injured so badly, am I right?" Wooowww, after one entry only, you already become an expert, good good..and that's indeed correct.

9. So how about the prevention action so that the event, which almost take Y's life wont happen again in the future? "Hmm what eh?" Sudah Gaharu Cendana Pula, Sudah Tahu Bertanya Pula, Cmon dudeee, i know you got the answer already, speak it up please, dun bother with people out there who still cant accept that, the most important thing you got it.

10. So? "Errr sorry to people-so-called-anti-rearseatbelt, i have to tell the truth, rear seatbelt cannot always save life..........but it can reduce the severity of injuries that will lead to death of front passenger and yourself" Good, I think I'll just make you host of this entry.

11. "In short, take care of yourself and a person in front of you by wearing rear seatbelt"

Don't you agree? Feel free to add and comments..

Why We Need Rear Seatbelts?

The topic is hot debate at the moment, so i have decide to give my 2 cents on the matter. Why rear seatbelts?

We do not want to be a killer.

1. Do you want to be one? Sure not, if you asked the same question to those who have been sent to the jail because of murder, big portion of them will say NO too unless in desperate situation.

2. They do not have choice but we have choice. Are we? "What the heck are you talking about, what is the relationship between killing and rear seatbelt. I dun see anything that relates them together!"

3. Hear this brother, my friend, my malaysian guy..During the crash, our weight will not be the same as we involve in quite significant high G. It has been said that our weight will be 40 times greater than normal during the impact. If lets say ur weight is 60kg, you will be like 2400 kg. Yes, you would be like an elephant during that time. Is an elephant weight is 2400kg?? I'll check it later. But the point is that such a great impulse force and it happens instantly. Don't trust me? see this picture:

4. Who do you think that do that kind of deformation on front seat?? Still don't trust me? See next:

5. Those effects solely can be done during the crash impact. Now you should imagine what happen to those who sit on the front seat that has been loaded with an elephant. So you still want to say that you are not a killer?? So buckle up at the back. And you could save your loved one.

We don't want to get killed.

6. Anyone here want to get killed? Yeah, if we talked about distressful and misery people who want to commit suicide, there are high chance of it. But the question is are we distressful kind of people? I'm sure not, at least that what I believe.

7. Thus, we have to value our life more. "Wait wait bro, please wait bro, so you imply that I do not value my life on road eh. I bought among the safest vehicle in the era and u said I do not take safety as my priority??!" No lah, that's not my intention. Ya'know, even the safest car can't always avoid casualities.

8. My intention is if we had slightest chance that we could save at least 1 life, we should go for it. Here is where rear seatbelt could save some life. Ah maybe you still dun understand, let me show you some picture of a case of my many cases to explain things.

9. This is a picture of among the safest vehicle on earth getting hit by a lorry. What can I say? The Toyota Harrier had 5 passengers including drivers. All 5 dead on the crash.

10. It is not my intention to deny God's will, but IMO, at least 1 person could be saved because she was located on survavibility space and quite far from the impact/crumpled zone only IF she wear rear seatbelt that would grip and get hold her. Let me show you how seatbelt could save life.

11. Watch the location of the passengers. Some of them are out of the damage profile and could be saved if they are hold on their position (by using rear seatbelt of course). However on this case, all three rear passengers were not buckle up even tho in the quite safe vehicle which provides rear seatbelt.

12. So think about it and value your life more by using rear seatbelt. Not every life can be saved, but we have to move forward to reduce the percent of fatalities on road. There is a saying, "Sediakan Payung Sebelum Hujan", which can be translated as an ACTION should be taken to secure our safety on roads and buckle up rear seatbelts are one of that many actions.

Don't you agree? Feel free to add and comments..

The Road is Not Taken

1. My first entry on this blog. I dunno what to start. The mood of writing and style shud be established. Well, to get the things started, lets hear a poem about road hehehe.

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

2. Before the journey, it is common that we has a decision to make, which way is safer, which way is faster. Mentally, we will come to a fork or state in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue the journey, journey of our daily life. After much internal debate, we might pick the road "less traveled by" or in other word less traffic and less congested. Trying a new way of driving on the new route pounding the decision.

3. The poem describes the tough choices people stand for when traveling the road of life, can as well say traveling in real roads, yes real roads or highway. The words "sorry" and "sigh" make the tone of poem somewhat gloomy and difficult. we are somewhat regrets leaves the possibilities of the road not chosen behind.

4. We realize that we probably won't pass this way again. Oh well, you can always turning back before too late, its just a route. And yes, statistically speaking, most road accidents happened due to the drivers chose the route he was not accustomed to. There is a saying, "jika di kandang kambing mengembek, jika di kandang harimau mengaum". So, please be careful when driving at the road we are not accustomed to.

5. Speeding without knowing your route is very dangerous. Well, driving on the same road everyday is of course a boring and mundane but remember one thing, safety must always come first..

Don't you agree? Feel free to add and comments..