Crash Investigation
The Transportation Safety Training Center’s Virginia Multi-disciplinary Crash Investigation Team is a multi-disciplinary research group formed with the purpose of helping improve transportation safety in the commonwealth of Virginia. The team is comprised of a psychologist, state trooper and highway engineer. Members combine their expertise to provide in-depth analysis of motor vehicle crashes and to develop recommendations that may decrease both the number of future crashes and their severity.
The team investigates selected highway crashes and analyzes factors contributing to the crash, details of the crash itself and data of interest in post-crash development. Members gather information by inspecting the crash site, examining the involved vehicles and interviewing victims and/or witnesses. Such data yield an objective, integrated appraisal of the human, mechanical and environmental factors involved, and the findings are used to enhance transportation safety for all Virginia citizens.
Crash investigation team reports, special reports, technical alerts and memoranda provide insights to help reduce the number of crashes and their harmful consequences. The recommendations have been applied to highway design, policy development, programming and legislation. The team’s contributions have benefited the motoring public across a wide array of transportation-related areas: public education and information, highway environmental improvements, operator training and vehicle inspection standards, as well as legislative, engineering and enforcement improvements. Crash investigation team research has been instrumental in legislative activity, particularly with reference to the high-rise vehicle (modified suspension) statute, child safety seat and safety belt code sections, and the provisional licensing of teen drivers.
The crash team conducts full investigations on approximately six crashes per year. These crashes are selected based on criteria determined to have a high potential impact on crash reduction. For more information about the Virginia Multi-disciplinary Crash Investigation Team, or to report a crash that may be of interest, please contact Lori G. Rice, Ph.D., psychologist and multi-disciplinary team leader at TSTC.
