The forensic pathologist and the determination of driver versus passenger in motor vehicle collisions. The need to examine injury mechanisms, occupant kinematics, vehicle dynamics, and trace evidence

Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1989 Jun;10(2):105-14. doi: 10.1097/00000433-198906000-00004.

Abstract

Five cases of vehicular homicide are presented in which the determination of an occupant's role in a motor vehicle collision was an important medicolegal question. The identification of the occupant's role in a motor vehicle collision can be determined by the forensic pathologist. The investigation that coordinates an examination of injury mechanisms, occupant kinematics, vehicle dynamics, and trace evidence will facilitate such a determination. This determination protects the innocent passenger, when faced with criminal or civil charges, from being falsely prosecuted as the driver. The examination of the above-mentioned components in a multi-occupant collision takes on particular forensic importance when a surviving driver claims to be a passenger: the victim rather than the assailant.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Traffic*
  • Adult
  • Automobile Driving*
  • Female
  • Forensic Medicine*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Movement
  • Wounds and Injuries / pathology