April 2, 2018

Historical Patterns in Loss-Of-Control Events At Specific Road Locations

Tire marks may be the only indicator that a significant loss-of-control event occurred that has not been reported.

In a continued study of loss-of-control collisions and incidents at the Clarke Road S-curve, north of Fanshawe Park Road in London, Ontario, Gorski Consulting has found that 96% of southbound vehicles at the curve, which are out of control when they slide through the opposing lane, are never documented in any official records such as police collision data. This is an astounding finding considering that the passage through an opposing lane at highway speed could lead to catastrophic consequences for innocent vehicle occupants. Yet these findings are indisputable because of the detailed photographic evidence that has been gathered to support this research. Previous Gorski Consulting articles from January through April, 2017 discussed more general results whereby it was found that over 80% of all events at the S-curve were not officially documented. The new research findings are even more compelling because it discusses a more-dangerous subset of these incidents. We have prepared an article discussing the details of this reseach and we encourage readers to consider its implications. …Read Full Article Here

February 10, 2018

Highway 401 Median Barriers – Review of Historical Data on a Re-Ignited Controversy

In the last several years a controversy has erupted in South-Western Ontario with respect to the incidence of median cross-over collisions occurring in the 118-kilometre segment of Highway 401 where no median barriers exist. This section of the busy super-highway is located between Tilbury and London, Ontario. This controversy is reminiscent of a similar one that erupted in the late 1980s when similar median crossover collisions were occurring between London and Woodstock, Ontario.

In the 1980s Zygmunt Gorski was working as an accident investigator with the University of Western Ontario Multi-Disciplinary Accident Research Team. He was involved in the inquest into the median crossover collisions and provided testimony and results of the Team’s research. Due to the lack of objective information that is presently available to the public on the need and importance of median barriers Gorski Consulting has decided to release some of the information and data surrounding the studies conducted thirty years ago in an article that is available on this page on this Gorski Consulting website. It is hoped that his information with be helpful to those currently having difficulties and concerns regarding the safety of Highway 401. …Read Full Article Here

July 20, 2017

Observed Average Speeds On Highway 401 – One Ingredient of a Deadly Recipe

The posted speed limit Canada’s largest and busiest expressway is 100 km/h. But what is the actual average speed of vehicles? This is answered by Gorski Consulting through testing along a segment of the highway.  …Read Full Article Here

May 1, 2017

ET-Plus Terminals – Further Evaluation of their In-Service Performance

The publicity surrounding the questionable, safe functioning of the ET-Plus guardrail terminal has died down. Yet these roadside devices continue to exist and some jurisdictions continue to install them. Yet there has been very little independent documentation available to determine if there is a genuine safety problem.

Gorski Consulting has been involved in a study of ET-Plus terminals since the fall of 2014. A number of articles have been posted on this webpage discussing various surveys and results of damage caused by impact. In the latest article we report on four incidents where ET-Plus terminals have been struck and the damage to them is evaluated. This compliments a previous article uploaded on March 12, 2016 where 6 incidents of damaged ET-Plus terminals were reviewed. We encourage interested readers to review the latest study and contact us if there are any questions.

…Read Full Article Here

April 7, 2017

Police Reported Collision Data – Communications to Obtain Accurate Reporting

In conclusion to a six month process of reporting on police collision data Gorski Consulting has up-loaded the last of six articles to this webpage. This latest article discusses the communications that were engaged with the London City Police Freedom of Information Office and the corrections to the data that occurred as a result. The final assessment is that over 80% of the collisions and incidents documented by Gorski Consulting at the Clarke Road site in London were not documented in any official manner by the police. …Read Full Article Here

February 16, 2017

How Many Incidents Do Not Become Reported in Police Collision Data? – Part 5

Gorski Consulting has continued its review of police-reported collision data from Clarke Road in London, Ontario. The fifth article in this series is now available for review. This article covers the data from the year 2015. The combined results from the years 2011 to 2015 suggest that the number of collisions not reported by police at the S-curve of Clarke Road is between 29.4 and 46.7 % although actual percentage is highly likely to be near the high end of this range. We are in discussion with the London City Police Freedom of Information Office who indicate that they may be able to provide further details about the location of the collisions in their database and up to now this has resulted in considerable difficulties in narrowing the range of the missing data.   …Read Full Article Here

February 3, 2017

How Many Incidents Do Not Become Reported in Police Collision Data? – Part 4

Gorski Consulting has continued its review of police-reported collision data from Clarke Road in London, Ontario. A fourth article in this series, covering data from the year 2014 has now been uploaded to this Articles page.   …Read Full Article Here

January 29, 2017

How Many Incidents Do Not Become Reported in Police Collision Data? – Part 3

It has now been possible to complete analysis on the police reported collision data from the years 2011 to 2013 with respect the collisions occurring at the S-curve of Clarke Road north of Fanshawe Park Road in London, Ontario. These preliminary results indicate that somewhere between 34 and 50% of collisions occurring at this site are not reported to police. This does not include the number loss-of-control events documented  by Gorski Consulting that do not result in collisions. The analysis is continuing on the data from 2014 to 2016 and the results will be posted in future articles as time permits. Meanwhile we encourage readers to review the details of the 2013 data in the article that has just been uploaded.   …Read Full Article Here

January 27, 2017

How Many Incidents Do Not Become Reported in Police Collision Data ? – Part 2

Time has allowed for the completion of the second article in a series discussing research conducted by Gorski Consulting into how many collisions and loss-of-control incidents do not become reported at rural curves. Data is now available from 2 years of data, 2011 and 2012. These data indicate that about 32 percent of collisions at rural curves may not become reported in official police collision data. This does not include the many loss-of-control incidents that do not result in collisions. The research is on-going and data will still be analysed for the remaining years of 2013 to 2016 to see if the trends continue. Meanwhile the latest article on the analysis of the 2o12 data has now been uploaded to this Articles webpage.   …Read Full Article Here

January 25, 2017

How Many Incidents Do Not Become Reported in Police Collision Data?

Preliminary estimates from research conducted by Gorski Consulting indicate that as many as 42 percent of collisions at rural curves may not become reported in official police collision data. That possibility needs serious consideration when such police data is used in a variety of settings to draw conclusions about transportation safety and government policy. The Gorski Consulting research is on-going however an article describing the preliminary results has been uploaded here.   …Read Full Article Here

January 12, 2017

Steering Wheel Rotation – A Basis For Evaluating Horizontal Curve Characteristics and Safety

Was the curve in this road a factor in this collision? How would one find out?

Why do vehicles go out of control and crash after exiting a curve? The vast majority of collision investigations never consider a study of the roadway curve as a possible factor. Gorski Consulting uses the data obtained from steering wheel rotations as a tool to understanding what factors may have led to a loss-of-control near a roadway curve. These methods are discussed in our most recent article. …Read Full Article Here

December 7, 2016

Heavy Truck Conflicts at Expressway On-Ramps – Data from Multiple Video Camera Analysis

On November 15, 2016 Gorski Consulting conducted a multiple video camera documentation of westbound heavy truck traffic on Highway 401 at the on-ramp from Elgin Road (Highway 73), south-east of London, Ontario, Canada. The purpose of the study was to gather data on the frequency and characteristics of conflicts between heavy trucks as traffic merged from the on-ramp into the westbound right lane of Highway 401. Details of these conflicts were recorded via nine synchronized video cameras strategically placed between the Elgin Road overpass and along the westbound on-ramp. …Read Full Article Here

November 20, 2016

Article on Details of Road Surface Testing on Wonderland Road in London, Ontario Now Uploaded

Road surface problems on Wonderland Road have prompted Gorski Consulting to conduct testing to determine the extent of the problem.

Road surface problems on Wonderland Road have prompted Gorski Consulting to conduct testing to determine the extent of the problem.

A new article has been posted to the Articles page of the Gorski Consulting website discussing the details of the road surface testing conducted on Wonderland Road south of Highway 401 on October 23, 2016.

The data from the testing had previously been posted to the Road Data page of this website. However there are additional details from the testing that cannot be appreciated from looking at the average motions of the test vehicle. The new article explains how the testing was performed and it also provides details of the specific areas on Wonderland where the worst conditions were found.  Read Full Article Here…

November 6, 2016

Recognition of Harpooning Danger is a Long and Slow Learning Curve

News media photo from February 16, 2016 of a car that was harpooned by a horizontal railing at the intersection of Horton Street and Wharncliffe Road in London, Ontario

News media photo from February 16, 2016 of a car that was harpooned by a horizontal railing at the intersection of Horton Street and Wharncliffe Road in London, Ontario

Recognition that roadside rails and structures can harpoon a striking vehicle is hardly a topic of decision around a dinner table. Nor is the danger appreciated by many professionals who bare the responsibility keeping the driving public safe. This issue is discussed in the latest article posted to this Gorski Consulting website. …Read Full Article Here

October 31, 2016

Yielding the Right of Way During Left Turns

Legislators have found a convenient way of settling disputes regarding left turns at intersections by incorporating the term “yielding the right of way”. Thus when a left-turning driver collides with a vehicle travelling straight through it becomes an automated matter of guilt on the part of the left-turner. In many instances obvious evidence that the through vehicle may have been speeding is often not evaluated and is ignored. For this reason Gorski Consulting has uploaded an article providing a general discussion about how such collisions are analysed and what pitfalls might exist. Read Full Article Here…

October 16, 2016

Another Inter-City Bus Rollover

Another inter-city bus rollover collision occurred near Denbigh, a small town in eastern Ontario. Ten of the 50 seniors riding in the bus sustained injuries. While this can be viewed as a fortunate consequence the reality is that it could have been much worse. Gorski Consulting has been high-lighting the dangers of inter-city bus travel for several years. In our latest article we briefly discuss the latest rollover. We also discuss some of the dangers that exist. …Read Full Article Here

October 11, 2016

Fatal School Bus Collision on Twelve Mile Road North of London, Ontario

News media reported that at approximately 0918 hours of Tuesday, October 4, 2016, a school bus driver, Pamela Walper, sustained fatal injuries as a result of the bus’s impact with a tree on Twelve Mile Road, north of London, Ontario. The unusual circumstances surrounding this tragedy were not reported to the public. As a result Gorski Consulting has uploaded a new article to this website discussing some of these unreported issues. …Read Full Article Here

August 25, 2016

Fatal Head-On Collision on Perth County Road 26 Is A Continuation Of A Dangerous But Little-Publicized Tragedy

The recent fatal, head-on collision on Perth County Road 26 in Southern Ontario is a classic consequence of collision events that have been recurring for decades without much publicity to warn the public. Certain collisions occur in predictable ways and being educated about those probabilities could allow some drivers to avoid a needless death. We discuss this important issue using the details of the current collision in Perth County to explain what needs to be known by the public.  …Read Full Article Here

August 21,2016

Clarke Road – Seven Years of Independent Research into Loss-of Control Events

A number of articles have been uploaded to the Gorski Consulting website dealing with our continual investigations of occurrences at the S-Curve of Clarke Road north of Fanshawe Park Road in London, Ontario, Canada.

In the latest article we up-date readers on our findings from collisions and incidents at the site since our last update in September of 2014. …Read Full Article Here

June 20,2016

A Small “Oh Canada” Moment

While travelling along some rural highways in eastern Ontario we came across an “Oh Canada” moment by a fire on the bank of the Ottawa River. Not related to motor vehicle collision reconstruction but related to reconstruction of our old Canadian souls. …Read Full Article Here

April 12, 2016

Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) and Pavement Edge Drop-Off 

Why does the law in Ontario allow that this edge drop-off of over 4 inches does not need maintenance as defined by the Ontario Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS)?

Why does the law in Ontario state that this edge drop-off of over 4 inches does not need maintenance as defined by the Ontario Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS)?

Gorski Consulting continues to express concern regarding the unreasonable thresholds set in Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) for maintenance of roadway edge drop-offs. In an article uploaded to the Gorski Consulting website in September, 2012, we provided an example of how large edge drop-offs did not mean the threshold even though, historically, such conditions would have required maintenance before the MMS were brought into law.

As a furtherance on this point, another article has been uploaded, which provides another example of deep edge drop-offs that should require maintenance but also do not meet the MMS threshold. …Read Full Article Here

March 22, 2016

Multiple-Fatal, Highway, Transit Bus Collisions – The Facts No One Wants to Know

Why did 13 students perish in this bus rollover when there is little evidence of any damage to its structure?

Why did 13 students perish in this bus rollover when there is little evidence of any damage to its structure?

It remains a puzzling fact of human nature how little questioning is done when multiple fatalities occur during inter-city transit bus rollovers. It is as if bus rollovers are deemed to be unavoidable and fatal injuries during a rollover are an obvious, inevitable consequence. These myths persist and continue to result in needless, senseless tragedies. Gorski Consulting has written about this issue in several News items uploaded to the News page of its website. Now, we have prepared an article dealing specifically with this dangerous occurrence. …Read Full Article Here

March 18, 2016 

Characteristics of Tire Marks Influenced by Soft Shoulders – Part 5

Shoulder re-grading causes tire marks to become more visible and intriguing.

Shoulder re-grading causes tire marks to become more visible and intriguing.

In a continuation of our study of tire marks on unpaved surfaces Gorski Consulting has now uploaded a fifth article which provides more details with respect to tire marks produced by road graders on soft shoulders. …Read Full Article Here

March 15, 2016

Characteristics of Tire Marks Influenced by Soft Shoulders – Part 4

How is the character of tire marks affected by the re-grading of gravel shoulder?

How is the character of tire marks affected by the re-grading of a gravel shoulder?

In this fourth article in our series discussing tire marks on unpaved surfaces, we focus on the issue of soft shoulders that are created when road graders stir up the shoulder surface. The character of tire marks, and how visible they will be, depends on the quality of the surface on which they ride. When the surface is soft then tire marks are more visible and this is part of the discussion that is presented in this new article.  …Read Full Article Here

 March 12, 2016

ET-Plus Terminal Impacts – Evaluation of Their In-Service Performance

In a continuing effort to document the performance of roadside barriers, Gorski Consulting has recently conducted examinations of damaged ET-Plus terminals to evaluate their in-service performance. It may be recalled that the ET-Plus terminal manufactured by Trinity Highway Products received some poor publicity in the last few years as a result of allegations regarding the terminal’s safety. Gorski Consulting has conducted a number of previous surveys and documented several instances of damage to these terminals. All these activities have been described in articles posted to this page of the Gorski Consulting website.

The most recent  article provides detailed information on the damage sustained to six ET-Plus terminals. In addition, a single instance of impact damage to a SKT terminal is also provided at the end of the article. The SKT is a terminal that has begun to be installed at various locations throughout Ontario as an apparent replacement to the ET-Plus. …Read Full Article Here

February 29, 2016

Characteristics of Tire Marks During Braking & Acceleration in a U-Turn on Gravel Shoulders – Part 3

In continuing our series of discussions of tire marks on gravel shoulders Gorski Consulting has now uploaded a third article discussing evidence surrounding a U-turn of an unidentified vehicle. A U-turn test was performed over the tire marks of the unknown vehicle to compare the tire marks from the two vehicles and further discussion is made regarding the tire mark evidence.  …Read Full Article Here

February 21, 2016 

Characteristics of Tire Marks During Acceleration on Gravel Shoulders – Part 2

Continuing with our series of articles on characteristics of tire marks on roadway shoulders we have not completed the second installment dealing with evidence of acceleration in those tire marks. …Read Full Article Here

February 7, 2016

Review of the Impact Damage of a ET-Plus Terminal & Comparison To Controlled Testing

A compliance test of an ET-Plus terminal causes the rail to pierce the driver's door of a test vehicle. This questionable result is compared to the damage of these terminals found in real-life impacts.

A compliance test of an ET-Plus terminal causes the rail to pierce the driver’s door of a test vehicle. This questionable result is compared to the damage of these terminals found in real-life impacts.

In a continuing effort to provide information regarding the safety of roadside barriers such as the ET-Plus terminal, Gorski Consulting has prepared an article focusing on the impact damage of an ET-Plus terminal located on Highway 401 west of Highbury Avenue in London, Ontario. The article is accompanied with photos the pre-impact condition of the terminal from a previous survey. We also provide a discussion of the compliance testing that was performed on the terminals in the late 2014 and early 2015. …Read Full Article Here

February 2, 2016

Characteristics of Tire Marks During Acceleration on Gravel Shoulders – Part 1

One of the least known parts of evidence related to motor vehicle collision reconstruction is that of tire marks on gravel shoulders. While many collision reconstruction schools spend large portions of their curriculum on determining speed, there is not a single such school that provides students with any instruction with respect to the characteristics of tire marks on gravel shoulders. There is a mistaken belief that there is little or nothing of substance that can be gained in the reconstruction process from such education. Yet, as most significant and fatal collisions occur on rural roadways vehicles frequently leave tire marks on gravel shoulders. In many instances a proper interpretation of the meaning of these tire marks can be an additional useful tool in the reconstructionist’s tool box. As a result, Gorski Consulting is embarking on an ambitious project of developing a series of articles discussing the characteristics of tire marks on gravel shoulders. The first in this series will discuss evidence of acceleration. …Read Full Article Here

November 26, 2015

Various Municipalities and Province of Ontario Quietly Stop Installing ET-Plus Terminals

Without any notice to the public various municipalities in Ontario, as well as the Province of Ontario appear to have stopped installing ET-Plus terminals manufactured by Trinity Highway Products and appear to have chosen a new terminal, an SKT, as their choice. Gorski Consulting has observed this process taking place in the vicinity of London, Ontario and we provide a further discussion on the issue in a newly uploaded article to this webpage. …Read Full Article Here

November 4, 2015

Minor Injuries to Pedestrian Result in Death – Questions About the Official Investigation

In one instance a pedestrian is reported to sustain minor injuries from a collision and in the next instance it is reported that the pedestrian has died. Additionally, the reported pre-crash travel direction of the SUV that struck the pedestrian does not seem plausible. Such are the circumstances of a collision that occurred on Dundas Street just west of English Street,  in the old east neighbourhood of London, Ontario on October 30, 2015. Upon reading of these developments Gorski Consulting attended the collision site and a website article has been uploaded here which reviews the strange developments. …Read Full Article Here

October 20, 2015

Death of a Western University Student – Lessons Can be Learned From Tragedy

Andrea Christidis was a student at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. While walking on the sidewalk of a curve on the campus on October 7, 2015 she was struck by a vehicle and killed. Investigating police alleged that the driver of the striking vehicle, Jerod DeJong, was impaired by alcohol at the time of the crash. While few details about the incident have been made public, Gorski Consulting attended the accident site and conducted a review of other incidents and safety concerns on the Western campus. Our review also included a previous collision on this campus in January 2015 when a passenger of a vehicle that struck a tree, Jan Broz, was also killed. These actions have led to the uploading of an article that has been prepared to discuss these issues. …Read Full Article Here

October 11, 2015

Critique of the U.S. Federal Highway Safety Administration’s Review of In-Service Performance of the Trinity ET-Plus Guardrail Terminal

The ET-Plus guardrail terminal manufactured by Trinity Highway Products of Dallas, Texas is alleged to be malfunctioning in certain collisions resulting in incidents such as the harpooning of vehicles that make contact will the terminals. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) indicated in late 2014 that it would conduct an inquiry into the in-service performance of the ET-Plus and a report on that inquiry was uploaded to the FHWA website in the spring of 2015. Gorski Consulting has reviewed the FHWA report and criticize the appearance that the FHWA never conducted an in-service evaluation of the ET-Plus throughout over 10 years that the terminal was being installed on North American highways. A further criticism is that the FHWA did not receive sufficient collision data and what data was received was of poor quality. A further criticism is that the FHWA failed to address the specific issue of the alleged defective design of the ET-Plus, whether there is sufficient evidence of poor functioning, and whether the ET-Plus should be removed from the North American highwa system.  The critique has been uploaded to this Articles webpage.   …Read Full Article Here

September 4, 2015

Triple Fatal Motorcycle Crash On Wellington Road And Ferguson Line South of London, Ontario

A news item from the Gorski Consulting News page became too lengthy to remain and this has now been transferred to this Articles page.

The focus of the news item relates to a collision between a motorcycle and pick-up that resulted in three fatalities. The collision occurred on August 30, 2015 at the intersection of Wellington Road and Ferguson Line south of London, Ontario. The subsequent article covers general issues of reconstruction of such events. …Read Full Article Here

July 27, 2015

Maximum Accelerations in Reverse and Forward Gear to Simulate Unintended Acceleration Scenario

A tragic collision occurred on July 25, 2014 wherein a 2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo accelerated rearward from a parked location at the London, Ontario Costco retail outlet and crashed through the front doors of the building. Two children were killed by this sudden action. The driver claimed that her foot became stuck and a trial took place in June of 2015 resulting in her conviction of dangerous driving. Portions of the trial proceedings were released to the public including data from the vehicle’s event data recorder (“Black Box”). As a result of these events Gorski Consulting conducted maximum accelerations in rearward and forward gears to examine what takes place over the short time and distance of such events. …Read Full Article Here

June 7, 2015

Photographic Chronology of East Asphalt Edge Breakage at North Curve of Clarke Road North of Fanshawe Park Road

Gorski Consulting has monitored the S-curve on Clarke Road north of Fanshawe Park Road in north-east London, Ontario since the fall of 2009 for signs of loss-of-control events. While these events were numerous in the earlier years, the numbers appeared to drop off lately, possibly due to the advent of electronic stability control on newer vehicles. Matters may have changed again however when the east asphalt edge of the northbound lane of Clarke Road began to break apart at the north end of the S-curve.

View of the breaking away of the east edge of the pavement at the apex of the north curve on Clarke Road north of Fanshawe Park Road in London.

View of the breaking away of the east edge of the pavement at the apex of the north curve on Clarke Road north of Fanshawe Park Road in London.

This breakage has occurred at a critical location where many northbound vehicles have been observed in the past straying off the pavement. Recently we have observed at least two loss-of-control events that could be related to this asphalt deterioration. As a result, we have prepared an article that documents the recent developments. We have also posted a number of historical photos of the area to demonstrate how the asphalt edge has deteriorated from year to year. …Read Full Article Here

June 6, 2015

Double-Fatal Unintended Acceleration Court Case And Evaluative Testing By Gorski Consulting

It was a tragic scenario that unfolded in the parking lot of the London, Ontario Costco outlet on Wellington Road when a red, 2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo experienced an unintended rearward acceleration resulting in the vehicle’s travel through the store’s front doors, and causing the death of two innocent children. The criminal charges laid against the driver of the vehicle, Ruth Burger, would appear to be of additional tragedy as, by all accounts, the driver could not be held criminally responsible, based on the limited facts made available to the public from her criminal trial.

View of the front entrance to the London Costco store on July 24, 2014 where a red Monte Carlo is seen after it reversed resulting in the death of two children.

View of the front entrance to the London Costco store on July 24, 2014 where a red Monte Carlo is seen after it reversed resulting in the death of two children.

To provide some basis for understanding what might take place during the early seconds of an unintended acceleration, Gorski Consulting conducted a preliminary, short-duration, maximum acceleration test with an instrumented vehicle. The results of this test have been discussed in a new article posted to this website. …Read Full Article Here

May 8, 2015

Winter Road Maintenance – Ontario’s Auditor General’s Report Reveals Some of the Truth

In April, 2015 a report from Ontario’s Auditor General became available entitled “Winter Road Maintenance”. The report was critical of the Ontario Liberal government entering into Performance-Based contracts with private contractors, resulting in worsening winter road maintenance conditions. While we applaud the content of the report we feel that additional facts needed our emphasis. Thus we have uploaded a new article that reviews the Auditor’s report but also provides further commentary and opinion from our viewpoint.  …Read Full Article Here

April 16, 2015

A Fatal Pole Impact on Napperton Drive – Was the Road Condition A Causal Factor?

A fatal pole impact on Napperton Drive west of Strathroy, Ontario on June 19, 2014, led to the announcement on April 10, 2015 that the driver of the collision-involved 2000 Lincoln, Jeffery Day, was charged with alcohol impairment and criminal negligence causing death. Although Napperton Drive was visibly in poor condition there was no indication how police determined that it was not a causal factor in the crash. Gorski Consulting had examined the site about 10 hours after the time of the collision and testing had been performed to assess the road’s contribution to the vehicle’s loss-of-control. As a result of the lack of reporting on this important issue we have uploaded a new article that summarizes our findings. …Read Full Article Here

April 9, 2015

Rough Roads, Increasing Speed and Change in Test Vehicle Motion – Data Separation Into 3 Road Segments

In previous instrumented testing on Sunningdale Road in London, Ontario it was determined that, as the speed of the test vehicle was increased, its lateral motion also increased at a consistent level. However, such an increase did not occur for longitudinal motion. The strength of these results could have been diluted however because our findings were reported for the full two-kilometre length of the road between Clarke Road and Highbury Avenue and there was a portion of road containing a smooth surface between the two rougher segments at each end. Thus, in a new article, the data from the February 27, 2015 testing was separated into those three road segments of smooth and rough surface to determine if the previous conclusions still held. Indeed, not only did the conclusions hold but they were strengthened by this more-detailed study.  …Read Full Article Here

March 30, 2015

Trinity ET-PLUS Guardrail Terminals – Revelations From Real-Life Impacts

Did the ET-PLUS guardrail terminal perform properly in this real-life collision? This is the question that remains unanswered amongst the numerous real-life collisions that receive no publicity for the public’s independent evaluation.

Discussion continues over the safety of Trinity ET-PLUS guardrail terminals that are installed in their hundreds of thousands throughout North American highways. While recent controlled testing by the U.S. Federal Highway Adminstration (FHWA) would appear to confirm that the altered design of Trinity Highway Products passes the controlled testing protocal (NCHRP-350) developed for such barrier evaluation, nothing has been said about the functioning of these terminals in actual, real-life impacts. In fact, when such a real-life collision occurs, the damaged terminals are swiftly removed and replaced without publicity or comment.

Gorski Consulting has been able to track down several damaged ET-PLUS terminals that had not yet been replaced and we have prepared an article that discusses the details of our findings. …Read Full Article Here

UPDATE: August 9, 2015: Some minor errors were noted in the original article that have been corrected and the revised article has now been re-posted.

We remind readers that, although me make every effort to provide accurate information in these articles, our time to make edits to them is limited. Thus you will likely observe obvious grammatical errors and references to something to the “left” when the content in a photo obviously shows the object of interest is to the “right”. If such errors are found we encourage readers to contact us so that these errors can be corrected.

March 20, 2015

Rough Roads, Increasing Speed and Change in Test Vehicle Motion – Further Data

In March of 2014 we uploaded two articles discussing the results from our testing on a road (Sunningdale Road, London, Ontario) that experienced upheaval of its surface due to winter frost. We reported the interesting fact that, as a vehicle’s speed increases, the severity of its longitudinal motions (front/back) remain relatively constant however the severity of its lateral motion increases proportionally to the vehicle’s increase in speed. As further verification of that fact we conducted further testing on April 5, 2014 and February 27, 2015. We have now uploaded an article to this webpage which discusses the results from all three testing sessions.  …Read Full Article Here

December 9, 2014

Trinity Guardrail Terminal Performance Evaluation From 2013 U.S. National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) Cases

Much publicity has been placed in the U.S. on the alleged improper performance of the ET-Plus guardrail end terminals produced by Trinity Highway Products of Dallas Texas, that dot almost every corner of the North American highway landscape. A University of Alabama of Birmingham (UAB) research study claimed that the ET-Plus was related to more deaths and serious injuries than it predecessor, the ET-2000. Recently a jury found Trinity liable with respect to their failure to properly disclosure changes to the ET-Plus that allegedly increased the likelihood of injury and death to road users.

The average person cannot determine whether any of these claims are true or false and even many independent researchers cannot gain access to the U.S. state collision data to make their own independent studies of the claims.

However the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) maintains a collision data collection system that is fully accessible to the public and independent researchers. The National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) contains well over 140,000 cases of accidents documented since 1979. Persons familiar with the procudures and forms used by NASS investigators can scrutinize the data to come to an understanding about a wide variety of factors surrounding collisions and occupant injuries.

Gorski Consulting has decided to conduct a small study of the NASS case files from 2013 wherein a single passenger car was involved (630 cases) and these were narrowed down to only those incidents where such a passenger car collided with a guardrail end; many of them installed with the Trinity ET-Plus terminal. This study will discuss the merits of pursuing a larger and more detailed study  using NASS files to evaluate the safety of the ET-Plus guardrail end terminal. …Read Full Article Here

December 2, 2014

Ambulances Blocked From Emergency Response by Malfunctioning CP Rail Barricade

The rail disaster at Lac Megantic, Quebec should have been a wake-up call for Canadians to deal with malfunctioning rail infrastructure, systems and functions. However, the reality is questionable. Gorski Consulting has had a second encounter with a malfunctioning CP rail barricade on Clarke Road north of Dundas Street in London, Ontario. The most recent situation caused two ambulances to be delayed in reaching an emergency that could have had serious implications. For this reason we have uploaded a new article that discusses this important issue. …Read Full Article Here

November 26, 2014

Safe Curve Speed Determination From an Accelerometer, Ball-Bank Indicator and Other Gauges

In our continuing examination of the issues surrounding safe speed determinations at curves, we have prepared an article discussing our work comparing the results of a ball bank indicator to the data of an iPhone-based accelerometer and other gauges. …Read Full Article Here

November 18, 2014

Road Authorities Faced With Difficult Decisions Regarding Replacement of Damaged Guardrail End Terminals

Replacement of this damaged guardrail end terminal would have been a simple decision only a few months ago, but now it is causing major concern across North America.

A very difficult problem is facing all jurisdications across North America as they have to decid how they will replace damaged guardrail end terminals in light of the recent U.S. court decision that the predominant system used almost exclusively throughout North America may be defective and dangerous. Huge implications are now riding on the U.S. Highway Administration’s request of Trinity Highway Products, the manufacturers of the alleged dangerous ET-Plus guardrail end terminal, that Trinity re-certify the ET-Plus to make sure that it complies with the protocols (NCHRP 350 or MASH) set up to test the safety of roadside barrier systems. If the ET-Plus fails those tests it is likely that a vast number of these installations, estimated to be about 500,000 in the U.S., may be required to be replaced.

A collision with an older style end terminal on Clarke Road in London, Ontario has prompted Gorski Consulting to prepare a new article that discusses the difficult decisions that must be made regarding how the damaged system will be replaced. …Read Full Article Here

November 16, 2014

Further Testing by Gorski Consulting to Evaluate Posting of a Speed Advisory Sign at Beaverbrook Ave and Proudfoot Lane in London, Ontario

A previous article (“Speed Advisory Sign – A Source of Potential Municipal Liability”, Nov 11-14) posted to the Gorski Consulting website demonstrated that a Speed Advisory tab sign posted on the eastbound approach on Beaverbrook to the the 90 degree curve at Proudfoot Lane was likely improperly posted. Our testing on October 31, 2014 revealed that the 30 km/h Advisory Speed was too high for vehicles to safely negotiate the curve. This conclusion was based on data obtained from an accelerometer and not from a ball bank indicator which has historically been used to make Speed Advisory assessments. For this reason we returned to the site on November 7, 2014 and performed additional testing which included both, the ball bank indicator and accelerometer. The results of our additional testing confirm the conclusions of the initial tests. This additional testing also provided an opportunity to study the differences in functioning and display of the ball bank indicator and readings from an accelerometer. …Read Full Article Here

 

November 11, 2014

Gorski Consulting Provides Input Into Resident’s Roadway Complaint to City of London

We continue to monitor roadway situations in Southern Ontario that could be a threat to public safety. We heard of a complaint lodged with the City of London by a resident, Mr. William Ore, who expressed his concern over the safety of the very sharp curve at the intersection of Beaverbrook Ave and Proudfoot lane in London. Recognizing that there was a potential safety-related problem we conducted testing at the site, after which we summitted a report to the City’s Civic Works committee. Although our comments were too late to reach the Committee meeting of November 3, 2014, we were informed that all City councillors received our correspendence. It has been reported that the City’s staff will evaluate the concern and submit an interim report the City Council. In the meantime we have prepared an article that describes the safety concern as well as the testing that we performed to evalute it.  …Read Full Article Here

October 23, 2014

Gorski Consulting Continues Survey of Trinity Guardrail End Caps

Gorski Consulting has continued our survey of guardrail end caps in the vicinity of South-Western Ontario. The latest article, Part IV, takes us to a total of 40 end caps that have been reviewed in the four articles that we have uploaded to this website. …Read Full Article Here

October 21, 2014

Results of Continued Survey of Trinity Guardrail End Caps

It is because we recognize the importance of the issue that we have decided to extend our survey of guardrail end caps in the vicinity of South-Western Ontario. It has been alleged that certain end caps (or Terminals , or heads) of guardrails designed by Trinity Highway Products, are defective and dangerous. It has been estimated that there could be somewhere in the neighbourhoodd of 500,000 such installations throughout the U.S. highway system and these do not appear to be any less popular in Canada. If the allegations prove to hold merit then it will confirm that a substantial risk to the travelling public will exist for some time to come until alterations are made. For these reasons Gorski Consulting has extended its survey of these installations to identify their locations and their present status. The third article in this series has now be uploaded to this webpage. …Read Full Article Here

October 19, 2014

Continued Survey of Trinity Guardrail End Caps

Gorski Consulting has continued its survey of Trinity guardrail end caps in the vicinity of London, Ontario. The latest sites that have been examined are in the vicinity of Highway 401 between Highbury Ave and Wellington Road in south London.   …Read Full Article Here

October 13, 2014

Danger of Passing Large Trucks on Two-Lane Highways

The occurrence of the recent death of a young female driver during her attempt to pass a large truck on a two-lane rural highway has prompted Gorski Consulting to write an article discussing the dangers of attempting to pass large, heavy trucks on two-lane, rural highways.   …Read Full Article Here

October 9, 2014

Trinity Guardrail End Caps In & Near London Ontario – Survey of Locations & Condition

A University of Alabama study ( “In-Service Evaluation of FHWA-Accepted Guardrail Terminals”, 2014) had the following observations regarding the functioning of Trinity Highway Products guardrail end caps:

“…a statistical analysis was conducted to compare the distribution of end treatments involved in severe-injury or fatal crashes to an expected distribution, known as exposure. To date, Missouri and Ohio have been included, and in both states, it was found that the ET-PLUS placed motorists at a higher level of risk of both serious injury and fatality relative to its predecessor, the ET-2000.”

Both the ET-PLUS and the ET-2000 were produced by Trinity however the newer ET-PLUS system was alleged to be defective and a U.S. court is to hear those allegations in November, 2014. This presents a huge exposure to many jurisdications in North America that installed these end treatments based on the authority of the federal agencies. If these systems are found to be defective the question to be asked is whether all the thousands upon thousands of guardrail end caps will need to be replaced and who will pay for those costs.

In light of this widening contraversy, Gorski Consulting has continued its research on the issue by conducting a survey of ET-PLUS systems installed in the London, Ontario, Canada and its vicinity. The purpose of this survey was to provide a photographic documentation of the characteristics and condition of each installation. An article based on these findings is available for review on this webpage. …Read Full Article Here

October 4, 2014

Are Trinity Guardrail End Caps Defective and Dangerous?

There has been recent publicity regarding the “harpooning” of vehicles by guardrails designed by Trinity Highway Products of Dallas Texas. Allegations have been made in court that a redesign of their guardrail end caps (ET-Plus) has created a hazard whereby the guardrail system turns into a harpoon when struck by a vehicle. If these allegations are proven to be correct then this poses a tremedous problem as Trinity is reported to be a global manufacturer whose products are installed all over North America and beyond. As the court case regarding these allegations proceeds Gorski Consulting has conducted a brief examination of a guardrail system in London, Ontario which has the characteristics of the defects being discussed. Our article provides some illustrations of what the defect allegations are about.  …Read Full Article Here

September 11, 2014

Clarke Road – Five Years of Independent Research into Loss-of-Control Events

This fall marks the five year anniversary of our studies and testing on the S-curve of Clarke Road, just north of Fanshawe Park Road in north-eastern London, Ontario, Canada. Although many studies and tests have been performed we focus on the fact that we have monitored the numbers and characteristics of vehicular loss-of-control events on this curve. In a newly uploaded article on the Articles webpage of this site we present the data on the numbers of events that we have documented as well as a discussion of the effects that electronic stability control (ESC) might have on these occurrences.  …Read Full Article Here

September 9, 2014

London City Police Cruiser Rear-End Collision – Review of Physical Evidence & Potential Analysis

We have now had an opportunity to prepare a new article that discusses a collision we examined a couple of months ago involving a London City Police cruiser that was reportedly rear-ended while stopped at a traffic signal in downtown London. In the article we discuss the physical evidence in detail and then proceed into a detailed discussion of the ways in which the collision could be analysed. …Read Full Article Here

August 29, 2014

Signs That Give The Wrong Warning

The public is continually bombarded with the propaganda that drivers are the cause of their own distruction. In many instances that criticism is warranted. However it becomes no better than a lie in those cases where driver error is accompanied by other significant factors which are not revealed to the public. In our latest article we present a real-life, dangerous situation that could have resulted in serious consequences, even a fatality, because a road crew failed to detect that their actions were causing confusion to the motoring public. …Read Full Article Here

August 27, 2014

Attempt to Escape Police Results In Driver’s Miraculous Escape of Death

Every now and then we encounter an accident scenario where a driver is extremely lucky to have survived.

In the early morning hours of August 25, 2014, a driver reportedly failed to stop for police. The vehicle was eventually found after it had crashed on the roadside of Vanneck Road west of London, Ontario. Our examination of the evidence at the accident site indicated that the vehicle had been travelling extremely fast as it vaulted over the intersection at Gainsborough Road and then went out of control, coming to rest on the east roadside. In the process of its travel the vehicle was vaulted into some trees while miraculously escaping any major contact. The incredible luck with which this occurred leads us to report on the happening in our latest article. …Read Full Article Here

August 26, 2014

Difficulties Posed By Heavy Truck Slow Acceleration

There is no doubt that any experienced driver has encountered the difficulties when a large and heavy truck blocks their path due to the truck’s inability to accelerate its speed at the rate of typical passenger vehicles or light trucks. This is a fact or driving life. However we want to emphasize this point through an article that shows a specific incident where the complexity of the problem is demonstrated. …Read Full Article Here

August 11, 2014

Tire Marks From Travelling On A Loose-Gravel Shoulder

The fact that the S-curve on Clarke Road north of Fanshawe in London, Ontario, was recently re-graded by a road grader means that we have had an opportunity to observe the fresh tire marks that are well visualized as a result of that action. For this reason we are able to present another article about some fresh tire marks that were observed there, involving a vehicle that travelled onto the shoulder and then began reversing backwards. Such a discussion may not seem important, as many of the articles that we have prepared that discuss the characteristics of tire marks on a gravel shoulder. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. There is a surprizing lack of knowledge exhibited by investigators of all kinds who are depended on to arrive at a reason why a fatality occurred on a rural highway. Often that investigator must understand the meaning of tire marks on a gravel shoulder because, very often, that is where the first and most important evidence originates. Additionally, tire marks in the vicinity of the resting place of collision-involved vehicles must be deciphered because some of these could be related to a vehicle that might have be the cause of a collision rather than simply evidence that was created after the fact.

For these reasons we have prepared an article that provides some visual description of what one might expect if one were to see tire marks caused by a reversing vehicle on a gravel shoulder.  …Read Full Article Here

August 8, 2014

Bicycles and Truck Driver Visibility

On August 7, 2014 a 19-year-old female cyclist was killed at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Wharncliffe Road in London, Ontario when the driver of a concrete mixer truck attempted to make a right turn in the presence of the cycle that was located on the truck’s right side. The general lack of understanding of the poor visibility afforded to truck drivers of objects near their right front wheel and fender is explored in a new article that has been uploaded to this webpage and we encougage readers to review its contents. …Read Full Article Here

August 5, 2014

Review of Loss-of-Control Tire Marks on a Gravel Shoulder

At Gorski Consulting we continue to study and report on the physical evidence found at the sites of loss-of-control collisions in our region. Such collisions are perhaps the least understood, or studied, yet they represent such a vast number of fatal consequences on North America’s roadways. While they may be called head-on collisions, rollovers, or impacts of trees and poles, all these collision types often originate from a loss-of-control of a vehicle by its driver. Electronic stability control may soon provide a great advantage in reducing the numbers of such incidents yet we still continue to see them on a regular basis, most often on rural highways. For this reason we continue to prepare articles that review the evidence that is created on the roadways where these collisions occur. Yet another new article has now been uploaded to this Articles page reviewing the evidence caused by a vehicle that travelled onto the gravel shoulders of both sides of a road. …Read Full Article Here

May 26, 2014

Crossing of Bridge Junctions & Railway Tracks – Effect on Vehicle Motion

In continuation of our exploration of the effects of various roadway features on the motion of a passing vehicle we have now completed an article that presents the results of our testing of the effects of bridge junctions and railway tracks on the motion our 2007 Buick Regal. This data provides further expansion and explanation of the differences in the data from various testing that has been reported in previous articles. We have now reported on the data obtained when driving over longer segments or roads; we have reported the effects of incomplete road repairs and now we have data on the effects of bridge junctions and railway tracks. The full compliment of data should provide an indication of what one might expect and accept from a roadway and will enable one to compare a certain road, or road feature, to a large number of others. Read Full Article Here…

April 30,2014

Part II of Incomplete Road Repairs is Now Available

We have now uploaded the second article dealing with incomplete road repairs and the depressions that they create. This second article provides the results of the testing that we conducted on the four sites discussed in the initial article. …Read Full Article Here

April 22, 2014

Incomplete Road Repairs – Part I – Site Descriptions

Poor road surface conditions are frequently publicized as a result of nature’s freeze and thaw cycle while little attention is paid to instances where incomplete road repairs result in isolated depressions that are poorly marked by warning signs. Gorski Consulting has conducted a survey of incomplete road surface repairs in the City of  London, Ontario and a description of each of the sites will be discussed in the present article. A companion article will be uploaded in the near future that will present the results of our testing that compares the severity of one site versus another. The first of these articles in now available for viewing. …Read Full Article Here

March 29, 2014

Creation of Braking & Acceleration Tire Marks on a Gravel Shoulder to Replicate Marks Caused by An Unknown Vehicle

At Gorski Consulting we continue to focus on the characteristics of tire marks on gravel shoulders as a way of coming to a more objective understanding of the pre-crash tire marks that often exist at the sites of serious-injury and fatal, loss-of-control collisions. While it is likely that over 50% of fatal collisions in North America include an instance where a vehicle enters into a state of loss-of-control, there is essentially no training available to an analyst who might want to obtain a better understanding of the physical evidence of tire marks on a gravel shoulder that precedes a collision. The work at Gorski Consulting appears to be the only publicly-available research that discusses this important evidence.

In our latest article that has been uploaded to this webpage, we discuss another set of tire that was found on a typical gravel shoulder and our testing attempted to reproduce those marks. Photos taken of the original tire marks and those created from our test vehicle are reviewed and discussed.  …Read Full Article Here

March 17, 2014

Guidelines for the Interpretation of Gorski Consulting “Road Data” on New Gorski Consulting Webpage

We have just uploaded a new article that will help explain the meaning and how to interpret the data contained on our new webpage called “Road Data”. As the database evolves and expands additional articles will be uploaded to explain the latest developments. We encourage readers to contact us (See Contact page of this website) if you have specific recommendations, wish to see additional data, or would like to see a change in data format. …Read Full Article Here

March 6, 2014

Rough Roads, Increasing Speed and Change in Test Vehicle Motion – Additional Data

Our analysis of data relating our to testing on a rough road in London, Ontario (discussed in the article noted below of the same date) has been completed in a shorter time than we expected therefore we have uploaded a second article discussing the new data and comparing to the data mentioned in the previous article. …Read Full Article Here

Rough Roads, Increasing Speed and Change in Test Vehicle Motion

What happens when a vehicle is driven at increasing speed over a road surface that is in poor condition? Knowing the answer to this question might help to resolve many issues of the public’s safety as well as providing better guidance to those who must maintain roads and those in the justice system who must make decisions about a driver’s level of negligence or liability for a motor vehicle collision. Gorski Consulting has conducted testing to provide some guidance on this issue. …Read Full Article Here

March 4, 2014

Further Differentiation Between Good and Bad Road Surface Characteristics From Vehicle Testing

Gorski Consulting continues to report on the field testing we are conducting to differentiate between “good” and “bad” roads. Readers can note that we have uploaded several articles in the last month that describe our precedures and the results. A new article has now been uploaded which provides the results from twelve additional sites. In addition, our testing coincided with a serious, roll-over, motor vehicle accident  that occurred less than 24 hours prior to our testing near the site and we discuss this implication. …Read Full Article Here

February 28, 2014

Preliminary Comparison of City of London and South-Western Ontario Road Surface Conditions

Gorski Consulting continues its series of reports on our testing of road surface conditions in the vicinity of the City of London, Ontario and throughout South-Western Ontario. In this latest article we report on the conditions of 12 additional sites, located primarily to the south west of London. This additional data is compared to the data that has been previously reported in our earlier article “iPhone Gyro Function Generates Detailed Data Of Road Conditions For Accident Analysis” that can be found on this webpage. The combined data provides some dramatic information about how some sites in the region contain unsual, substandard and possibly unsafe conditions. …Read Full Article Here

February 25, 2014

iPhone Gyro Function Generates Detailed Data of Road Conditions for Accident Analysis

Previous articles on the Gorski Consulting website have discussed the use of the Apple iPhone to generate data about roadway conditions. The present article provides a more refined procedure that combines the iPhone data with multiple video cameras that show conditions such as driver eye motions, braking and steering, and others. The present article focuses on data from three different roadways to demonstrate how the iPhone data can be used to differentiate between the characteristics of each road.  …Read Full Article Here

February 11, 2014

Video Eyeglasses, iPhone and Multiple Video Cameras – Review of an Effective System for Analysis and Reconstruction of Motor Vehicle Collisions

At Gorski Consulting we have been engaged in the development of a system of instruments and procedures that can be used to assess a variety of motor vehicle accident related issues. Some of this work has been discussed in previous articles on this website. However we continue to make additions and refinements and this article has been prepared to review the most recent developements. This article discusses the use of video eyeglasses to explore a driver’s head and eye motions. This is combined with the ability to document accelerometer and gyro data to document the forces exerted on the test vehicle. The system also documents other driver actions such as braking, acceleration and steering via multiple video cameras. The combined system forms a powerful, yet inexpensive tool for exploring how a collision might have occurred. …Read Full Article Here

January 19, 2014

Driver Actions While Travelling Around a Complicated, Snow-Covered, Rural S-Curve

Driving on low-volume, rural highways in winter can pose some challenges especially when the road surface is covered with snow, the driver may be travelling on an unfamiliar road and the road geometry is often not ideal. In this article we review a situation where our test vehicle passed through an S-curve on a low-volume, snow-covered rural road while the vehicle was equipped with nine video cameras to show the vehicle’s motion and the driver’s actions. We also discuss some of the theoretical problems that could be encountered in this scenario. …Read Full Article Here

January 11, 2014

Time Required for a Tractor-Trailer to Complete a Lane Change

The motions of tractor-trailers on our road system are often scrutinized as the collisions involving these massive vehicles can cause catastrophic consequences. A common question is the time required for a tractor-trailer to complete a lane change on a multi-lane highway. Gorski Consulting has been involved in real-life testing using several vehicles and multiple video cameras to explore some of these motion questions. We have prepared an article that discusses the detailed motions of a tractor-trailer as well as the motions of other vehicles around it when the tractor-trailer performs a lane change.  …Read Full Article Here

January 7, 2014

Driving For The Road Conditions – How Well Can We Detect Snow Drifts?

Driving during wintertime in Canada inevitably requires attention to road surface conditions as snow and ice are common. Many experts warn the public that they should “drive for the road conditions”, implying that there is such as thing as “the road condition”.At Gorski Consulting we have argued that this seemingly sage advice can be dangerous as drivers should understand that there is no such thing as a consistent road condition and that it is the changes in the road conditions that lead to collisions. In continuing with that point, we have prepared an article that provides an example of an isolated snow drift on an otherwise bare and dry road, as we question whether it is reasonable to expect a driver to detect the magnitude of the problem before it is too late. We also question the reasoning of Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) that seem to ignore the presence of such snow drifts when allowing maintenance personnel to discontinue inspecting all roads in their jurisdictions. …Read Full Article Here

December 26, 2013

What Caused an OPP Police Cruiser Impact With a Tree on the Exit Ramp From Highway 401 Near Ingersoll, Ontario – Part 2 of 2

We have uploaded the second part of our analysis of a collision involving an OPP police cruiser that occurred on Dember 18, 2013, on the westbound exit ramp from Highway 401 at Plank Line, near Ingersoll, Ontario. …Read Full Article Here

December 24, 2013

What Caused an OPP Police Cruiser Impact With a Tree on the Exit Ramp From Highway 401 Near Ingersoll, Ontario – Part 1 of 2

On the afternoon of December 18, 2013 it was reported that an OPP police cruiser collided with a tree on the westbound ramp road exiting Highway 401 at Plank Line near Ingersoll, Ontario. It was reported that a White Ford Fusion vehicle had caused the collision by accelerating from a parked position, onto the ramp road, directly in front of the cruiser. This mystery vehicle reportedly fled the scene. A number of commenters to the London Free Press website expressed doubt that the collision occurred as reported. Gorski Consulting attended the collision site and we have prepared two articles discussing our findings. The first article can be reviewed by following the link. …Read Full Article Here

December 17, 2013

Duplication of Tire Marks Observed On A Gravel Shoulder Though Controlled Testing

On December 4, 2013, Gorski Consulting documented some tire marks that were found on a freshly re-graded gravel shoulder of a rural highway on the north-eastern outskirts of London, Ontario, Canada. A test was performed at 60 km/h where the test vehicle travelled onto the shoulder, adjacent to the observed tire marks, so that a comparison between the two sets of marks would help explain how the original tire marks were formed. We have prepared an article discussing the details of this research. …Read Full Article Here

December 11, 2013

Ontario’s Revised Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) Fail To Require Proper Roadway Inspections

We have expressed criticism of Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) through several articles on this website.  This is because this legislation is being used to prevent the development and maintenance of safe roads in Ontario by preventing those jurisdictions that are negligent from being held accountable for their negligence. We have prepared another article in this series focusing the MMS flawed failure to prevent proper roadway inspections. …Read Full Article Here

November 27, 2013

Maximum ABS Braking Tests With Cadillac DTS On Gravel Shoulder of Clarke Road in London

In continuence with our series of braking tests on various road conditions we have conducted testing with a 2001 Cadillac DTS on the shoulder of Clarke Road, north of Fanshawe Park Road, in north east London on November 20, 2013. This testing compliments our previous testing reported on this webpage involving a 2007 Buick Allure and a 2012 Ford Fusion also conducted on gravel shoulders. …Read Full Article Here

October 20, 2013

Review of Questionable Safety Improvements on the Glanworth Curve

An neighbourhood outcry came from residents along the Glanworth Curve on the southern outskirts of London, Ontario, Canada, shortly after the double fatal collision of a Ford Escape SUV with a tree on February 11, 2012. Residents, and others, claimed that the curve was unsafe and proposed a number of solutions including a guardrail that was expected to prevent wayward vehicles from striking the noted tree. In response representatives from the City of London argued against the guardrail but were not specific about what they would do, if anything. After 18 months have passed we have observed what changes were made to the curve and we have to state that we are bewildered. As such we have prepared an article to discuss these questionsable improvements. …Read Full Article Here

 

October 15, 2013

Further Interpretations of Loss-of-Control Tire Marks on a Gravel Shoulder

At Gorski Consulting we continue to monitor loss-of-control collisions. A majority of these occur on two-lane, rural highways with gravel shoulders. In a majority of these instances vehicles commence their loss-of-control when travelling onto a gravel shoulder with their right side tires. There is little research or understanding of the physical evidence that exists in such events. For this reason we have been gathering data on loss-of-control tire marks on gravel shoulders. A specific site has been selected for a majority of these observations which is located on an S-Curve of Clarke Road, just north of Fanshawe Park Road in the north-eastern outskirts of London, Ontario. In 2013 we have presented several articles on this webpage which focus on interpretations of the tire marks on the gravel shoulders at this site. In continuance with this work we have prepared another article discussing our interpretations of another set of tire marks at this site. …Read Full Article Here

October 3, 2013

Vague Official Explanation For OPP Police Cruiser Rollover In Lambton County – A Review of the Physical Evidence

A vague explanation of why an OPP cruiser rolled over on Courtright Line in Lambton County led to some negative comments from readers of the news media articles. The incident reportedly occurred at about 0030 hours of September 28th, 2013. While we do not share the expressed negative opinions we never-the-less agree that the official explanation somewhat “fishy”. We therefore travelled to the accident site, reviewed the physical evidence and conducted some testing to explain what we believe actually occurred. …Read Full Article Here 

 

Septmeber 30, 2013

Roadside Barriers and Death By Drowning – An Important and Hidden issue

In recent years in Southern Ontario we have observed a continued problem of occupants of vehicles drowning when the vehicle enters a body of water next to a road. Similarly we have also observed a continued problem with the lack of maintenance of roadside barriers, a failure to install roadside barriers where they are needed, and the installation of improper barriers for what is actually needed. For this reason we have prepared a detailed article about the issue to spur some public interest in this important debate. … Read Full Article Here

 

August 25, 2013

iPhone Gyros – Meaning of Displayed Values Derived From Vehicle Testing

The meaning of the values displayed by the XSensor Pro app for the iPhone has been demonstrated through our testing at a roundabout and at highway speeds on an S-curve on Clarke Road in London. This testing has confirmed that this app is providing reliable aned valid data. We also have some data that allows us to explain how the app functions as well as being able to understand what the displayed data means. …Read Full Article Here

August 3, 2013

Evaluation of Loss-of-Control Tire Marks on a Gravel Shoulder

At Gorski Consulting we take considerable time for documentation and evaluation of tire marks on gravel shoulders of rural highways. It is known that many of the fatal and serious-injury collisions that occur on rural highways begin when a vehicle, often travelling around a curve in the road, travels onto a gravel shoulder and a loss-of-control occurs. This occurrence is often not identified or mis-interpreted because investigators have a lack of experience is identification and interpreting the evidence that occurs when vehicles enter a gravel shoulder at highway speed. In our latest article we take you through a detailed review of some fresh, loss-of-control tire marks on a gravel shoulder and provide some insights into what the evidence means. …Read Full Article Here

August 2, 2013

iPhone 4S Gyro Testing On A Freshly-Graded Gravel Shoulder To Evaluate Its Safety

Numerous fatal and serious-injury loss-of-control collisions occur daily in North America due a driver’s inadvertant travel onto a gravel shoulder of a rural highway. A typical scenario unfolds as investigators have little knowledge about interpreting evidence of vehicle motion on gravel or when freshly-graded gravel shoulders can become a safety hazard. On July 18, 2013 Gorski Consulting conducted testing with multiple video cameras and the gyro function of the iPhone 4S smartphone to obtain data on a test-vehicle’s motion as it passed over a freshly-graded gravel shoulder on Perth County Road 23, south of Mitchell, Ontario. The results help to clarify what conditions and speed should be considered as a danger to the driving public. …Read Full Article Here

July 27, 2013

Details of Small Evidence Can Say Big Things

Years of experience in examining evidence in motor vehicle collisions can have its benefits in being able to identify facts that would not be possible without that experience. Small bits of evidence that may appear to be inconsequential to the average eye, can speak volumes. As an example, while examining the site of a recent intersection collision, we found a small bit of evidence in the grass at the final rest position of one of the vehicles which enabled us to draw conclusions about how the collision occurred. …Read Full Article Here

July 25, 2013

Rollover Fatality On Highway 402 at Colonel Talbot Road

A fatality occurred on Highway 402 near Colonel Talbot Road when an eastbound Suzuki rolled over. Police indicated that the 24-year-old driver was not wearing his seat-belt and reminded motorists of the importance of buckling up. The collision events commenced at the Colonel Talbot Road overpass of Highway 402. It would appear that the Suzuki was in either of the two eastbound lanes but the first evidence of its location was in the form of tiremarks that travelled into the centre median. The Suzuki then rotated clockwise back onto the road surface and then continued to rotate clockwise until it slid into the south ditch where it rolled over. …Read Full Article Here

July 21, 2013

Fatal Rollover on Eastbound Highway 401 East of Colonel Talbot Road, South-West Outskirts of London, Ontario

An eastbound Chevrolet Equinox SUV rolled over in the south ditch of Highway 401 east of Colonel Talbot Road, at approximately 2030 hours on Saturday, July 20, 2013. One of the five occupants of the vehicle died in hospital while the driver was reportedly charged with a number of criminal charges. We examined the collision site on the afternoon of Julyl 21, 2013 and have prepared a review of our findings. …Read Full Article Here

July 18, 2013

Publicity Given To Fortunate Result In Rollover But Nothing Said About Freshly Graded Soft Shoulder That Might Have Caused Crash

On the afternoon of July 17, 2013, a 2005 Kia SUV was northbound on Perth Road 23 just south of Mitchell, Ontario when the vehicle reportedly “…flipped end over end and landed in a wheat field” (Stratford Beacon Herald newspaper). The publicity focused on the fortunate result that both occupants of the vehicle “…basically walked away from it” quoting OPP Constable Kees Wijnands. Constable Wijnands was then quoted as saying it was a “beautiful example” of automotive safety technology at work.

Well thankfully, the automotive technology did its job, but that is not the real story. Nothing was mentioned about what caused the collision and the 58-year-old female driver was charged with “careless driving”. But based on what? Simply because the vehicle rolled over in a field? Why did the vehicle enter into a state of loss-of-control? Surely the police experts should have an opinion. Well, we examined the site this afternoon and we came to a different conclusion. …Read Full Article Here

April 28, 2013

Irony of Selective Road Safety Enforcement

Our recent travels in South-Western Ontario have led us to the observation of the irony that exists in the way we select how we will enforce certain safety issues while ignoring ones that appear to be an equal threat to our safety.

Although this truck rollover did not result in serious injuries the consequences could easily have been fatal – But will the roadway problem that might have contributed to this happening ever be revealed

We have taken a look at this important issue and have prepared a detailed article that we invite you to consider. …Read Full Article Here

April 9, 2013

Coincidence or Terrorism? – Truck Impact into Main Entrance of General Dynamics Military Manufacturer in London, Ontario Led to Initial Questioning of What Actually Occurred

At 0230 hours of Tuesday, April 9th, 2013, at tractor trailer broke through the security fence of the General Dynamics property on Veterans Memorial Parkway in London, Ontario, Canada, stuck a tree an two vehicles and then plowed into the front entrance of the building. The driver of the vehicle did not survive. Questions commenced whether the event could have been a willful act of terrorism but police made quick call that it was more likely due to another cause, possibly a medical condition of the deceased driver. Gorski Consulting examined the collision site about 9 hours after the occurrence and an article has been uploaded discussing our findings. …Read Full Article Here

April 4, 2013

IPhone Accelerometer Results From 45 Emergency Braking Tests on Snow-Covered Roads

On February 8, 2013 Gorski Consulting conducted 45 emergency braking tests on roads within the City of London, Ontario, Canada, as well as rural roads in the vicinity of the city. The test vehicle was equipped with a number of video cameras and two iPhones displaying the acceleration and gyro data detected by their sensors.

View of GoPro28 video camera pointing at the left front wheel of the test vehicle during braking tests on snow-covered roadways conducted on February 8, 2013

The acceleration data was analysed to determine whether any errors could be detected in the iPhones’ accelerometer display. A detailed account of this testing along with tables displaying the results such as test speed and deceleration rate are presented in our uploaded article. …Read Full Article Here 

March 25, 2013

Double Fatality on La Salette Road North of Delhi, Ontario Prompts Question Why A Guardrail Was Not Installed to Prevent Exit Into Deep Creek Bed

 

Absence of a roadside barrier allowed a vehicle to fall off the steep embankment and strike a tree killing two occupants.

On Saturday, March 23, 2013 at approximately 2150 hours an eastbound vehicle was travelling on La Salette Road north of Delhi, Ontario when it went into a state of loss-of-control, exiting at the north roadside and colliding with a tree. The location of this impact was in a roadway sag where the struck tree was on a steep embankment of a deep ditch at a creek bed. Such roadside characteristics would normally trigger the warranting of a roadside barrier to prevent vehicles from falling over the steep embankment. However no such discussion was raised in any official news reports of the incident or by investigating police. Gorski Consulting examined the site on the afternoon of March 24, 2013 and we have prepared a discussion about the need for the noted barrier which could have prevented the noted deaths. …Read Full Article Here

March 23, 2013

Collisions on the Adjala Townline Road South of Alliston, Ontario Canada – Preliminary Roadway Assessment Using an iPhone Accelerometer and Multiple Video Cameras

Two tragic collisions occurred on the Adjala Townline Road, south of Alliston, Ontario in January and February, 2013. In one three teenagers likely drowned when their vehicle landed upside down in a water-filled ditch and they could not escape the vehicle interior. In a second collision a vehicle collided with an unprotected bridge abutment resulting in critical-level injuries to the single, young male driver. Both collisions elicited comments by neighbours and family that the roadway condition was a principal factor in the consequences. On February 13, 2013 Gorski Consulting attended the roadway and conducted testing to evaluate whether the concerns of the neighbours and family had merit. This gave us the opportunity to explore adequacy of the procedures and equipment we have been developing to document roadway problems. We have prepared a detailed account of this testing which is now available for review. …Read Full Article Here

March 18, 2013

Fourth & Final Article on Emergency Braking Tests of 2012 Ford Fusion has been Uploaded

We have now completed and uploaded our fourth and final article on our emergency brake testing with the 2012 Ford Fusion. …Read Full Article Here

March 16, 2013

Third Article on Emergency Braking Tests of 2012 Ford Fusion has been Uploaded – A Fourth Article to Follow

Due to the space required to display our various photos and screenshots from our testing with the 2012 Ford Fusion we have decided to separate the original analysis of a third article into a fourth separate article that will be uploaded in the coming days. Meanwhile the third article has been uploaded and can be reviewed by clicking on the adjacent link.  …Read Full Article Here

March 12, 2013

Results From Test #5 of Emergency Braking Tests on a Bare & Dry Asphalt Surface

We have now uploaded the second in a three-part series of articles on our emergency braking tests we performed on February 24th, 2013 with a 2012 Ford Fusion passenger car. This is a relatively conservative braking test on a bare and dry surface which can be used to compare the functioning of the iPhone accelerometer to what would be expected. It also provides some data on the performance of the Ford Fusion’s braking system. …Read Full Article Here

 

March 10, 2013

Gorski Consulting Conducts Emergency Brake Testing with 2012 Ford Fusion

We have been busy conducting a large amount of testing with our iPhone accelerometers and multiple video cameras. So much so that we are having difficulty getting all the material together to place into website articles. However we are now prepared to show some results from our testing with a 2012 Ford Fusion where we conducted emergency braking tests on snow-covered and bare highways in the vicinity of London, Ontario. Some interesting work has involved braking while driving partly onto a gravel shoulder as we have mentioned previously that this is how many drivers lose control of their vehicles. Before presenting the specifics of individual tests we have first prepared an article discussing the instrumentation that was used in the testing. The 2nd and 3rd articles in this series will discuss individual tests. …Read Full Article Here

March 4, 2013

A Warning of Special Road Conditions of Late Winter

As winter turns to spring the sun’s strength increases and is more likely to melt snow and ice on the darkness of a hard-topped road surface, despite the fact that the air temperature could still be substantially below freezing. Drivers must pay particular attention to this happening as demonstrated in our article discussing this issue. …Read Full Article Here

February 25, 2013

Circumstances of Death of 19-Year-Old in Rollover on White Oaks Road in London, Ontario

It was reported that at approximately 2200 hours on Friday, February 22, 2013, a rollover collision occurred on White Oaks Road just south of the overpass of Highway 402 at the southern outskirts of London, Ontario, Canada. A 19-year-old occupant of the vehicle sustained fatal injuries but no other details, including the identity of the person, were revealed. No other information about the collision site was provided. In fact, the local London Free Press newspaper appeared to have included a photo in their article of the crash showing the wrong accident site. In light of this lack of information we attended the area of the accident site about 14 hours after its occurrence and have prepared an article reviewing our findings. …Read Full Article Here

February 7, 2013

Multiple Video Cameras and iPhone Accelerometers Used In Braking and General Vehicle Motion Testing

Recent testing using multiple video cameras and the accelerometer readings from two iPhones has been performed by Gorski Consulting on snow-covered and wet roads in the vicinity of London, Ontario, Canada. Results from this testing will be provided in upcoming articles. This initial article describes the instrumentation that was used. …Read Full Article Here

February 4, 2013

A Rememberance of Professor Edwin S. Nowak – Co-ordinator of the University of Western Ontario Multi-Disciplinary Accident Research Team

Belated as it may be, an article remembering the late Professor Edwin S. Nowak has been uploaded to commemorate the November 2, 2013 naming the the University of Western Ontario Engineering Thermodynamics lab in his honour. …Read Full Article Here

January 23, 2013

Significance of Breaking Through A Guard Rail Is Misunderstood – Review Of A “Minor” Collision In St Marys Ontario

 

The beautiful town of St Marys Ontario is the unfortunate example we use in discussing the issue of roadway deficiencies that exist in every jurisdiction in Ontario. Otherise we highly recommend a visit to this safe community.

It just so happens that we stumbled upon a “minor” collision that occurred in St Marys, Ontario which requires our comment and the preparation of an article on roadway deficiencies. We want to add that St Marys is a pleasant and safe community that is an undiscovered tourism star in Ontario. We could have selected any number of communities to use as our example, not only in Ontario, or Canada. However our focus of the last number of years has been on making persons aware that roadway problems are being kept from the public’s knowledge as we focus on other important dangers such as driver impairment, distraction and speed. …Read Full Article Here

January 3, 2013

Lessons Learned From Tire Marks On Freshly Re-Graded Gravel Shoulders

Interpretation of tire marks on gravel shoulders is an important part of uncovering how and why a serious loss-of-control collision occurred. In our article on this subject we provide some explanations of tire mark characteristics from testing and offer an explanation as to how some drivers lose control of their vehicles on rural highways. …Read Full Article Here

Is Your Driver A Monster In Disguise?

As we pass by a pleasant holiday period with many fond memories of friends and family, we must keep up our vigil as safe travel is as important now as anytime during the holiday season. We may be safe drivers but sometimes we are forced to rely on the responsibility of others to maintain our safety. This not only applies to the drivers of vehicles around us, but also to the driver of the vehicle we are in. Far too often we fail to evaluate the character of the driver who may transport us to our destination and whether actions beyond our control could lead to our own demise. Stepping into a vehicle with a risk-taking driver is no different than transporting a bomb or standing in front of a loaded gun. All these scenarios can equally lead to our death. We have prepared a short article discussing the “monster” that could be hiding behind the steering wheel of our own vehicle with a reminder of the danger that this entails. …Read Full Article Here

December 20, 2012

“Because I Say So” – A Reminder Of What Should Not Exist In Any Justice System

BISS (“Because I Say So”) is a phrase that we have coined in an attempt to focus attention on the fact that, too often, judgments made in our courts are made without sufficient objective evidence, while failing to acknowledge the danger of reaching a wrongful conviction. In Canada the disasterous wrongful murder convictions of Guy Paul Morin, David Milgaard and Donald Marshall should awaken in us the importance of paying attention to situations where BISS dogma may exist. Regretably, we do not see proper attention being given to this problem. …Read Full Article Here

December 12, 2012

We Believe in Roadway Maintenance Much Like Santa Claus

We have stated on numerous occasions that we must take a serious look at roadway issues when considering the causes of collisions. Road maintenance is an important manner that is often over-looked. We have prepared a further article on this matter.

…Read Full Article

October 29, 2012

Testing With Apple iPhone Accelerometer & Gyros

We have been testing the functionality of the Apple iPhone recently as a tool in our accident reconstuction activities.  Earlier this fall we reported on our testing on the S-Curves of Adelaide Street north of London, Ontario. We have also conducted similar testing on an S-Curve on Clarke Road, north of Fanshawe Park Road, in the north-east area  of London, Ontario. In continuance with these activities we have prepared an additional article that discusses our testing on Clarke Road in which we discuss a specific application called XSensor, which allows access to the accelerometer and gyros of the iPhone and therefore allows us to examine the forces exerted on a test vehicle by the road on which it travels.

It can be noted in our recent articles on fatal collisions in our region that many collisions are occurring because a driver has lost control of his/her vehicle. Yet little quantitative analysis is done to assess what role the roadway might have played in the events. We now have a simple yet powerful and convenient tool, the iPhone, that can provide meaningful and objective information on this point therefore it is important we demonstrate what data is available and how it is displayed for evaluation. …Read Full Article Here

October 26, 2012

Fatal Loss-Of-Control Collision On Petrolia Line in Lambton County, Ontario

A collision with a tree on Petrolia Line just west of Inwood Road in Lambton County, Ontario has claimed the life of a 47-year-old female driver. The collision reportedly occurred on October 25, 2012 at approximately 0545 hours. We examined the collision site about 10 hours after the occurrence and have prepared an article discussing our findings. …Read Full Article Here

October 10, 2012

Loss-of Control on Highway 401 Exit Ramp – A Lucky Result

While collisions are almost always tragic, there are exceptions where the mild results can be termed “lucky” due to the potential of more serious consequences that were averted. Such is the topic of our latest article regarding a loss-of-control event that occurred on the exit ramp of Highway 401 at Wellington Road in London, Ontario. …Read Full Article Here

 

Continued Research at Seven S-Curves on Adelaide

In our continued series of articles discussing testing on seven S-curves on Adelaide Street, north of London, Ontario, Canada, we have now uploaded the fourth article, Part 4. This latest article discusses the results from 4 runs that were completed through the curves. We specifically focus on the differences between Curve 3 and Curve 4 because this is the transition between the well-designed curves and the less desirable characteristics in the remaining four curves. We also provide some data for steering wheel inputs obtained from videotaping a large protractor that was attached to the steering hub of the test vehicle. …Read Full Article Here

October 5, 2012

City of Guelph & Wellington County Found 100% at Fault For Icy Road in $2,000,000.00 Civil Claim

In June, 2012 the judgment of Justice Mossip in the civil case of Mark v. Corporation (City of Guelph), was released with the effect that the two defendants, the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington were found 100% at fault for the icy road conditions that led to a February 5th, 2003 collision on Gordon Street just south of Guelph. Some facts reported at trial were likely in error while in other instances those facts surrounding the defendants’ operations were damaging to their defence. We provide our own insight into the judgment in our article. …Read Full Article Here

September 28, 2012

The Seven S-Curves of Adelaide – Part 3

Part 3 in our series of articles dealing with testing on the seven S-curves on Adelaide Street, north of London, Ontario is now uploaded and available for viewing. This article presents charts of data obtained from our drives through the curves in a vehicle instrumented with multiple video cameras and an accelerometer. …Read Full Article Here

September 26, 2012

The Seven S-Curves of Adelaide – Part 2

Part 2 in our series of articles dealing with testing on the seven S-curves on Adelaide Street, north of London, Ontario is now uploaded and available for viewing. This article describes the instrumentation and procedures and also provides some preliminary results from Curve 1. Future articles will compare the testing from all seven curves and more articles will be added as testing continues. …Read Full Article Here

September 25, 2012

The Seven S-Curves of Adelaide – Part 1

We will be uploading a series of articles discussing our testing along seven S-curves on Adelaide Street North, north of the city limits of London, Ontario, Canada. This is in continuation of our work to evaluate how and why drivers lose directional control of their vehicles on rural curves. The first in the series of articles presents a pictorial view of the seven curves and discusses some of their characteristics. Later articles will show the instrumentation and methods used to gather the data during drive-through testing. In other articles we will also present and discuss our results. Testing is likely to be on-going so that further articles will be presented as new data is gathered and analysed. So, the first pictorial article is now available. …Read Full Article Here

September 19, 2012

Reasonableness of Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards With Respect to Pavement Edge Drop Off Evaluated

Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards discuss various thresholds at which municipalities have to take action to repair a potential roadway safety hazard. Pavement Edge Drop Off is one of the categories of potential safety hazard that may not protect Ontario drivers. Gorski Consulting has conducted some research to explain the concern. …Read Full Article Here

September 18, 2012

Glanworth Curve – Conclusions About Need For Guard Rail Are Numerous But Lack of Supportive Information Continues

Glanworth Curve in the south of London, Ontario, has received further publicity lately as a call from a number of entities, including the London Free Press, has been made to the City of London to install a guard rail. Due to the lack of quality information on the issue Gorski Consulting has conducted some testing at the site and it has been presented in our article on the issue. …Read Full Article Here

September 17, 2012

Man Sustains Fatal Injuries From Impact With Concrete Bridge Abutment South of Tavistock, Ontario

It was reported that in the afternoon of Saturday, September 15, 2012, a southbound motor vehicle on Line 13, south of Tavistock, Ontario, struck a bridge abutment and its 68-year-old, male driver sustained fatal injuries. We examined the collision site to determine why the collision occurred and prepared an article on our findings. …Read Full Article Here

September 10, 2012

Roadway Geometry and Driver Actions Influence Incidents of Crossing Over a Roadway Centre-Line

We have prepared an article discussing some results of our testing to demonstrate how roadway geometry and driver actions can lead to incidents of vehicles crossing over the centre-line of a rural highway. …Read Full Article Here

August 14, 2012

Examples of Events Leading to a Fatal Head-On Collision

In many cases, persons die in rural head-on collisions without witnesses or a definative explanation why the collision occurred. There are factors to consider that may not be obvious. In this article we explain  how a portion of these collisions might take place. …Read Full Article Here

April 23, 2012

A Brief and Informal Survey of Road Safety Problems In Southern Ontario

What if someone knowledgeable in road safety problems took a short and informal drive through the rural roads of Southern Ontario? What kind of safety problems might this person identify? This is precisely what we undertook this morning, April 23th, 2012. The findings are interesting. …Read Full Article Here

April 20, 2012

Fleeing Police In Perth County Almost Leads To Fatality

On April 18th, 2012, a fairly short news item appeared in local newspapers indicating that a driver of a van attempted to flee from police and was subsequently involved in a rollover collision. We examined the physical evidence at the site of the collision. …Read Full Article Here

March 5, 2012

Maximum Braking On Snow-Covered Roads From February 25, 2012

We conducted further maximum braking tests on snow-covered roads in the vicinity of London, Ontario on February 25, 2012. Coincidentally this testing took us onto Oxford County Road 6 without kn0wing that a fatal collision had occurred on that road just an hour or two before. In that collision Tim Wood and his son Ryan were both killed. Police had indicated that road surface conditions were poor and might have been a factor in the crash. The issue of the condition of the roads in the area at the time of the crash would appear to be an important issue to address. As such we have prepared an article which gives the results of our brake testing. We then consider what might have occurred in the actual crash. …Read Full Article Here

March 4, 2012

Safe Driving – An Example of a Complicated Issue

One would assume that travelling at slow speed would be a hallmark of safe driving. But not all slow driving is safe driving. We have prepared an example to illustrate how slow driving can lead to deadly consequences. …Read Full Article Here

February 10, 2012

When Where and Why Slippery Roads Occur – Some Objective Testing By Gorski Consulting

Every winter session we see a rash of deadly crashes involving slippery roads. Road maintenance personnel frequently indicate they have done all they can to prevent the condition. Police often tell drivers to drive “for the road conditions”. There are also a multitude of strong opinions from the public about “all the bad drivers out there”.

While driver behaviour has always been a concern there is little objective information available to the public about the detailed status of roads in their area and sometimes  drivers find it difficult to tell when a road surface is slippery until it is too late.

At Gorski Consulting we are experimenting with multiple video cameras to provide detailed documentations of road conditions as a way of providing some objective facts to the discussion. We have prepared an article which provides a brief summary of our test method. …Read Full Article Here

February 3, 2012

Characteristics of ABS Braking Tire Marks on Snow-Covered Asphalt

Frequently, the characteristics of tire marks are used by collision investigators and reconstructionists to help them resolve important facts about a collision. Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) have tended to remove the visibility of such tire marks in many scenarios. However braking in conditions of snow cover can be detected if the investigator knows what evidence to look for. Our article presents the results of some braking tests on different snow-covered asphalt surfaces to explore some of the evidence that is visible under this scenario.  …Read Full Article Here