Human Factors Expert Witness Evaluates Police Activity Leading to Fatal Crash

This case involves a police chase in Nevada resulting in a fatal accident. On the date of the incident in question, the police were in pursuit of a convicted felon who was suspected of driving a stolen truck. The suspect was driving at speeds in excess of 90 mph, and she eventually ran a red light, colliding into the decedent’s vehicle while he was crossing through an intersection. The driver of the vehicle suffered a head injury and died after a few days in the hospital. It was alleged that the decedent should have heard the police sirens and yielded, thereby avoiding the accident.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Do you have familiarity with the subject matter described above? 2. Have you ever published or lectured on this subject / issue?

Expert Witness Response E-035130

I am extremely familiar with the subject matter in this case as my research is concerned with transportation human factors with a significant focus on multimodal signalized intersection safety. I have written and lectured on this topic extensively. Some of my recent work has considered driver behavior in response to yellow lights, the design of smart red light extension systems, the evaluation of conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians in the conflicting crosswalk during flashing yellow arrows (both left and right turns), designing intersection approaches to prevent right-hook crashes between through moving bicycles and right turning vehicles, and the evaluation of alternative protected/permitted right turn phasing alternatives. I teach graduate and undergraduate classes dealing with traffic engineering, highway engineering, and signalized intersection designs. I have given dozens of presentations describing my work related to intersection safety and have reviewed similar cases that dealt with fatalities in work zones related to traffic control devices, traffic control plans, and human factors issues. Whether the decedent would have heard the sirens would depend on a variety of factors that go beyond the scope of the summary above, but through proper investigation / reconstruction techniques it would certainty be possible to determine if that was possible.