Citation

Russell G. Collision 2010; 5(1): 96-101.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Collision Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In an accident, vehicles may remain engaged post-impact, either traveling as a single unit until they reach their final rest positions or separating due to some post-impact event before reaching their respective final rest positions. These vehicles will have the same post-impact velocity, meaning that if just one velocity for an involved vehicle can be quantified along with their respective weights and approach and departure headings, the remaining velocities may be calculated using only the conservation of linear momentum. In this paper, a case study is used to illustrate this analytical technique. The findings show that the linear momentum analysis can be used even without information regarding coefficient of friction while moving to rest, braking efficiencies or post-impact distances.