Length of Skid Marks

[SV805]

Unfortunately my daughter had an accident on Friday and her little Barina will probably be written off....She is OK, bit of a knock on the head......My question is can you work out the speed of travel by the length of the Skid marks.......Clear fine dry day, road in normal condition, Holden Barina 2002 NO ABS.......Is there an equation to work this out ??????

Mick

[Devil CV8]

you can, the cops do it all the time... for serious collisions anyway.

[Jimbo_AUS]

I reckon about 3 inchs in my undies....just kidding.

No idea about on the road....depends on the type of road as well asphalt/concrete etc. I'm pretty sure the cops will have an answer for you.

Hope your girl is ok too.

[Mozz]

Here is a good site for those technically minded:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/19-25/CH12.htm

Less technical and easier to process:

http://www.harristechnical.com/articles/skidmarks.pdf

Imperial units are used not metric - so take this into account - also remember skid mark distance speed calculation will generally indicate the minimum speed travelled by the vehicle at the time of the incident.

Let us know what you work out in terms of your calculations.