The forensic investigation of vehicle-pedestrian collisions: A review

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation, a steady increase in the number of vehicles, speeding, negligence in road safety, and other factors have led to the inevitable worldwide growth of road traffic accidents involving pedestrians. According to the 'Global Status Report on Road Safety' released by the World Health Organization, road traffic collisions are one of the leading causes of death for people of all ages, with approximately 1.35 million road fatality deaths occurring globally each year. Figures from the report also highlight that a large part of road deaths involves pedestrians as the most vulnerable road users. Therefore, forensic examination of vehicle-pedestrian collisions has become increasingly important in the detection, investigation and reduction of road casualties and permanent development of this discipline is urgently needed. Thus, this article aims to review the capability and effectiveness of forensic examination in tackling road fatalities and explores the most important aspects of this discipline, such as nature of a vehicle-pedestrian collision, common issues resolved by this type of examination and typical physical evidence used in the reconstruction of vehicle-pedestrian collisions. Moreover, the paper outlines the latest advances and approaches in the field.

Keywords: Collision reconstruction; Forensic examination; Road traffic collisions; Vehicle-pedestrian collisions.