UK police deploy 3D laser scanners to capture accident scenes

By Mike Flacy July 15, 2011

When a major car collision occurs in the United Kingdom, the police investigators are obviously sent to the scene to record all details of the crash. This process requires an extensive amount of time in order to record all details for upcoming court proceedings and insurance purposes. The accident scene must stay untouched during the investigation, thus the cost of delaying commerce becomes extremely high. The process can easily take many hours to document with written notes and photographs. The UK government estimates there were over 18,000 partial or complete road closures during 2010 that amounted to 20,000 hours at a cost of a bit more than $80,000 an hour.

Since reducing the amount of time that it takes police officials to document the crash site is instrumental in reducing costs, the UK government purchased twenty laser scanners with 3D modeling capabilities according to the BBC. The scanner is deployed at the crash site and rotates 360 degrees on a tripod as it records over 30 million data points. Each complete scan takes 4 minutes and police usually take four to five scans of each accident site. Once the digital image of the crash site is complied with the data from the scanner, investigators use the digital measurements to determine the initial cause of the crash using impact points on the wrecked vehicles, skid marks on the pavement and other data.

While the police officials still have to record evidence at the scene, this time-saving tool reduces the amount of time that a road stays closed drastically. Investigators can finish up in a fraction of the time with more accurate readings than taking measurements by hand. This technology hasn’t caught on in the United States yet, at least not with police officials. Only private accident reconstruction firms in the United States are using them to laser scan wrecked vehicles.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Cars

Don’t let the gimmicks fool you. The Ioniq 5 N is a serious track car

2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N drifting.

We’re finally getting to the fun part of automakers’ methodical quest to replicate their lineups with electric cars.

Performance versions of ordinary cars have been a staple of the auto industry for decades. But while we’ve already seen some variants of EVs boasting more power and more impressive stats — think Tesla Model S Plaid or Lucid Air Sapphire — the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is the first to truly apply that format to an EV.

Cars

The Maserati GranCabrio Folgore is one of the best-looking EVs yet

Front of the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore

Maserati is adopting electrified vehicles with open arms, and while that could potentially signal an identity crisis for the luxury Italian brand, that’s probably a good thing in the long run.

The company recently took the wraps off of the new Maserati GranCabrio Folgore, which is essentially a convertible version of its already released GranTurismo Folgore electric car. The new EV is its third go at electrified vehicles so far, and it flew us out to Rimini, Italy, to witness the big reveal in person.

Cars

EV warranties aren’t like those for non-electric cars. Here’s what you should know

Close up of the Hybrid car electric charger station with power supply plugged into an electric car being charged.

EVs are on the rise. With awesome new models finally rolling out and charging networks rapidly expanding, it feels like we're at the tipping point of electric cars being as mainstream as non-electric vehicles. But with a whole new type of vehicle come new challenges. One challenge is adapting to charging times. Another is paying closer to attention to range. And another, as some drivers are finding out, has to do with electric car warranties.

Turns out, the warranty that comes with electric cars isn't necessarily quite the same as the one that you might get with your non-electric car. If you really think about it, that's probably not all that surprising -- after all, while they can look the same, electric cars have a completely different makeup under the hood compared to their gas-powered cousins. But understanding an EV warranty could be the difference between winding up having to pay thousands for a battery replacement, or getting one repaired on the house.
It's not all new
Before diving into things like battery warranties, it's worth doing a quick primer on car warranties in general. EVs and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles usually come with two different warranties -- at least when they're bought new. First, there's the basic warranty (also known as bumper-to-bumper warranty), which covers every part of a car except for basic maintenance, usually for up to three years or 36,000 miles.