Evidence Documentation & Interpretation Flashcards
7 cards from real ACTAR practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Evidence Documentation & Interpretation flashcards as text
A 'furrow' in soil or grass at a crash scene is most useful for establishing:
Answer: The vehicle's direction of travel and trajectory after leaving the roadway
Furrows left in soil or vegetation by a vehicle document its post-roadway trajectory, heading, and path as it traveled across terrain.
For a crash reconstruction report to be admissible under Daubert standards, the methodology used must be:
Answer: Tested, peer-reviewed, have known error rates, and be generally accepted in the scientific community
Daubert requires scientific testimony to be based on methodology that has been tested, peer-reviewed, has known error rates, and is generally accepted within the relevant scientific community.
What is the correct procedure when an investigator arrives at a crash scene and finds that critical tire marks have already been partially obscured by rain?
Answer: Document the remaining visible portions with photographs and measurements, noting the degradation
Remaining visible evidence should be documented immediately with photographs and measurements, with clear notation of the degradation, as partial evidence is better than no evidence.
Which vehicle damage feature most directly indicates the height of a striking or struck object?
Answer: The vertical location of the principal contact area (PCA) on the vehicle
The vertical position of the principal contact area on the vehicle's structure directly indicates the height above ground of the object or vehicle that caused the damage.
When using photogrammetry to extract measurements from crash scene photographs, which condition is MOST critical for accurate results?
Answer: Known control points with precise coordinates must be visible in the photographs
Photogrammetry requires identifiable control points with known 3D coordinates present in the images to scale and orient the photogrammetric model accurately.
In crash reconstruction, 'paint transfer evidence' is primarily used to:
Answer: Match vehicles involved and establish contact points and geometry
Paint transfer analysis matches transferred paint to source vehicles, confirms contact, and helps establish the geometry and orientation of the vehicles at the moment of impact.
A witness describes a vehicle as 'fishtailing' before a crash. In evidence documentation, which physical evidence at the scene would corroborate this account?
Answer: Curved, striated yaw marks indicating rear-wheel sideslip
Fishtailing involves the rear of the vehicle sliding sideways (yaw), which produces curved, striated yaw marks on the pavement surface that corroborate witness accounts.