A crucial step in figuring out why and what happened on the scene of an accident is to reconstruct it digitally. As drones have come down in price over the last few years this is an area, they continue to shine in.
What is accident reconstruction?
Accident reconstruction is the creation of a digital twin of the accident scene that can then be inspected and analysed by more people for as long as they want. The ensures all the possibilities are looked at without worrying about having to clear the scene to get traffic flowing again or the possibility of the environment or someone else messing with the evidence.
How does accident reconstruction work?
Digitally reconstructing an accident scene using a drone is simple to do.
- The scene is made safe and important evidence is marked on the road, like it normally would be.
- To ensure accuracy later, at least two measures of scale are setup around 15 metres apart from one another. This is used to ensure the 3D models are to scale and accurate.
- Before getting into the air, a quick pre-flight check in completed using software like Curo.
- Three flights are conducted over the accident scene with each flight at a different height to capture more data. The first two flights are used to cover the accident scene and create an overall picture. The third is lower to the ground and is used to capture important evidence.
Benefits of using drones
- Saves time and allows the roadway to be cleared and opened in a shorter amount of time.
- Highly accurate recreation of the accident scene, allowing more informed decisions to be made and acted upon.
- 3D colour models are generated, much better than 2D drawings, photos, and animations.