Rekonstruktion von Verkehrsunfällen

Traffic accident or dumping? - Striking results of a traffic accident reconstruction

An atypical traffic accident scenario should be investigated directly at the crash site from all concerned professions, especially police men, forensic pathologists and technical experts, to get a personal overview and impression of the situation and the opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion. We present the rare case of a fatal traffic accident on a German motorway which was initially thought to be an accidental discovery of dumping a corpse. Based on autopsy findings, the technical investigation and the accident reconstruction, this case was solved as a spectacular form of a collision between a pedestrian and a bonnet-front car, which was not described elsewhere in scientific literature to the best of our knowledge. The pedestrian was hit in an upright body position, was lifted up by the car, smashed the windscreen and flew over the car with several body rotations. His flight curve ends directly at the roof of the car during brake processing, where the body touched the roof, smashed the rear-window and landed in the trunk. Based on the technical investigation, the driver of the car was not able to hide the accident. However, the pedestrian could have avoided the collision if he did not cross the motorway on foot.

Traumatic asphyxia--fatal accident in an automatic revolving door

Due to continuing modernisation, the number of automatic doors in routine use, including powered revolving doors, has increased in recent years. Automatic revolving doors are found mostly in department stores, airports, railway stations and hospitals. Although safety arrangements and guidelines concerning the installation of automatic doors are in existence, their disregard in conjunction with obsolete or incorrect installation can lead to fatal accidents. In this report, a 19-month-old boy is described whose right arm was caught between the elements of an automatic revolving door. As a direct result of rescue attempts, the child's body was drawn further into the narrow gap between elements of the door. To get the boy's body out of the 4-cm-wide gap between the fixed outer wall of the revolving door and the revolving inner, back-up batteries had to be disconnected so as to stop the electrical motor powering the door. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was begun immediately after the rescue but was unsuccessful; the child was declared dead at the hospital he was taken to. The cause of death was a combination of compression-related skull and brain injury together with thoracic compression. This case shows an outstanding example of the preventive aspect as a special task of forensic medicine. Additionally, it serves as a warning for the correct installation and use of automatic revolving doors. Even so, small children should not use these doors on their own, but only with an alert companion, so as to prevent further fatal accidents of this sort.