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2009 ARC-CSI Crash Conference Presentation
WORKSHOP: Practical Applications of Accelerometer Data
Presented By: William "Rusty" Haight
Time: 1 Hour
Have you looked at a set of crash test data with accelerometer data and wondered what to do with it? Are you comfortable with how to calculate "the area under the curve" for delta-V? What's the difference between "average acceleration" and "peak acceleration?" How does this type of data potentially figure into understanding when airbags deploy? What's a "front-end loaded" crash pulse as opposed to one that's "back-end loaded?" What's smoothing...filtering? Well, since every ARC-CSI Conference data disk has accelerometer data - often from multiple devices - and this year's conference disk will be no exception, this workshop is designed as a basic "how to" examine, work with and understand accelerometer data from crash tests and, by extension, acceleration data found in certain CDR reports.
About Rusty Haight
W. R. "Rusty" Haight is currently the Director of the Collision Safety Institute, a crash research, training and consulting center operating primarily in the US, Canada and Australasia. He is also a traffic safety researcher and practicing Traffic Collision Reconstructionist expert witness/consultant holding a Certificate of Qualification from the Accreditation Commission on Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR #135).
As of June 2006, Rusty's been involved in more than 1000 crash tests. That total includes more than 830 crash tests in which he was the driver/occupant of one of the involved vehicles of which there were 96 air bag deployments earning him the nick name "human crash test dummy." Collisions involving pedestrians and bicycles being struck by cars, cars into large commercial vehicles, busses, motor homes and vehicle-to-vehicle collisions at both low closing or impact speeds as well as closing speeds of up to 54 mph and delta-V's over 26 mph are but some of the crash tests Rusty has experienced first hand.
In addition to extensive practical experience as a former San Diego (CA) police officer assigned to the Accident Investigation Bureau, he has conducted independent research in a number of areas of collision investigation and reconstruction and authored/co-authored more than 25 technical papers, articles and presentations. An area of particular interest and expertise is what is often called the automobile "black box." He is one of two approved "Crash Data Retrieval System Operator" instructors to be found in North America. Moreover, he has conducted more than 200 crash tests of varying severity to evaluate the function and reliability of the technology. He has then also testified about this technology in "Frye" or "Daubert" admissibility hearings and at trials in several states.
Rusty has provided trial and pre-trial consultation regarding virtually every aspect of traffic collision reconstruction in both criminal and civil cases. As a consultant and expert witness, he has analyzed collisions for attorneys representing a wide variety of clients from individuals to automobile manufacturers; insurance companies to District Attorney's offices privately since 1985. he has qualified as a Traffic Collision Reconstruction expert witness in all levels of courts and provided expert witness deposition, affidavit ad/or trial testimony in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington State and other states. He has also provided live testimony before the Supreme Court of Western Australia and in the Singapore Superior Court.
Rusty holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Human Subject Crash Tests" (claim 18192) and was recognized as one of the "25 Toughest Guys in America" by Men's Journal magazine (3/04) and an "Amazing Body" by GQ magazine (12/04). In January 2005, he signed on to host the crash science show "Accident Investigator" on Discovery Health Channel which aired season one starting in November 2005. It can be seen periodically on Discovery Health in the US and the Global network and Canal D in Canada. "Accident Investigator Season 2" is in the filming stages and is tentatively set to air on Discovery Health in the fall of 2006. His past media appearances in the US and overseas include multiple appearances on ABC News 20/20, the Discovery Channel and on segments and Court TV's "Forensic Files." He has also appeared on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Ripley's Believe it or Not," the "Today Show" (Australia), the Travel Channel, "To Tell the Truth," and "I've Got A Secret," and other national, local and international radio and TV news and entertainment broadcasts in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
