“The traffic accident investigation It’s like a chess game, you only see the final checkmate, but our job is to look back and understand how we got here,” explains the Mossos d’Esquadra agent. Toni Domènech, one of the members of the Traffic Accident Investigation Unit of the Central Police Region. This is a department of the traffic area specialized in the investigation of causes hidden behind the most serious accidents that occur in the region. From the reform of the Penal Code In 2019, its role has become increasingly relevant, taking into account that penalties for crimes committed in traffic accidents are tougher and, in some cases, the investigation behind an accident resembles that of a crime.
The work of reconstructing road accidents allows determining possible criminal responsibilities
The head of the regional traffic area of central Catalonia, Francesc Parra, highlights that the idea that an accident is something fortuitous is being abandoned. “In the majority of accidents, the human factorthey don’t happen just because.” The inspector explains that, since the last modification of the Penal Code, road accidents in which death or serious injury of a person “can easily end up leading to a Penal proceduresince many reckless driving behavior “They are already classified as a crime.” In this sense, he highlights that the report prepared by the Mossos based on the investigation work “is key” to determining the causes that caused an accident and has a lot of weight in the final decision of a judicial process. .
“The investigation also has a restorative power for the victims’ families, who need to understand the accident”
The work of the Traffic Accident Investigation Unit team begins every time an accident occurs on one of the roads in the area they cover, which, in the case of Central Catalonia, includes the regions of the Bages, Anoia, Moianès, Solsonès, Berguedà, Osona and Lluçanès. “Through the station, they alert us that there has been an accident and, if we see that it is serious, we activate the investigators,” highlights the head of the Traffic Accident Investigation Unit, Alicia Fontanet. Once they arrive at the scene, he points out that “every accident is a world”. The important thing, he says, “is not to lose sight of the fact that the first thing is to assist people and to act as quickly as possible to restore the circulation of the rest of the vehicles.”
“In most accidents, the human factor intervenes, they do not happen just because”
One of the researchers from the unit that participates in the roadside research work, Isabel Maldonadoemphasizes that the first step is to “measure all the signs found on the road and that will help us carry out the accident reconstruction“. One of the main tasks is to mark the final positions of the vehicles with colored crosses on the asphalt and take some overhead photographs with a pole that will later be used to simulate the accident scene using a computer program. It also highlights that it is important to speak with the people involved, whenever possible, as well as with the rest of the emergency services “who may have relevant information about how the accident went.”
Reconstruct the accident
Once the information has been collected at the scene, the work of reconstructing the accident begins. One of the agents specialized in this area, Toni Domènech, indicates that in this phase we analyze what was the vehicle direction or what movements have made before impact. To obtain this data, agents use different avenues, such as going to cranes to scan vehicles in 3D to see deformation sizes and energy participation in the impact. “From there, techniques specific to the mechanical Engineering to se her speed in which the vehicles were circulating or other factors such as braking distance,” he points out.
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Domènech also highlights that more and more vehicles have the EDR system, which is a tool that allows you to save accident data. “Unlike the airplane’s black box, which records voices and images, this device offers us technical data about the vehicle, such as speed, engine speed, degree of steering wheel rotation, whether it was accelerating or braking at the time of the crash. accident”. In this sense, he considers that it is a mechanism that helps a lot to resolve the main doubts in any investigation of an accident in which “some objective conclusions and reliable to reality thanks to the technological advances“.
Fontanet assures that, in most cases, conclusions are reached that “are scientifically demonstrable.” In fact, a common denominator in all accidents is, according to the head of the Traffic Accident Investigation Unit, the fact that they are “multi-causal“, are a set of circumstances that end up causing and, in some cases, there is concurrence of responsibilities, although the final decision rests with the judge, once the report is delivered.” Fontanet also emphasizes that the investigation of accidents not only serves as compelling evidence in a criminal procedure, “it also has a restorative power for victims’ familieswho need to understand the accident.”