We are ALL prototyping out there. Every run is a test run. Every run is a dance with the Devil.
Unfortunately so is the issue of photo documentation of accidents.
First a little background -- I have been interested in crash mechanics since I was in my teens when a girl I went to high school with was killed in a car crash a couple weeks after graduation. The Wrecker at the service station I worked for, was number 2 in line for call that night, so save that lucky break I would have been called out to recover her crushed car. Over the next few days I spent some time examining the wreckage and it was clear even to a 17 year old that many minor changes in the structure of that could would have increased her chance of survival. That also led to deciding to study mechanical engineering in college. Working on a wrecker I saw first hand a great many crashes and the multitude of ways that the structure fails during crashes. Years passed and I spent 14 years working for the Office of Emergency Management here in Colorado and spent 5 years on a mountain rescue team. In that time it was clear that the one thing that is never properly documented is the accident itself. Everyone is too involved in the actual emergency response. After I left the State, I worked with a local volunteer fire dept. and followed them around for over a year taking pictures of their emergency responses from the perspective of an emergency responder. Many times I had to deal with the irrational reaction of others who could not imagine there was a legitimate reason to take pictures of an accident. They were so brain washed by the sensationalization of some of our media friends, that they immediately assumed the worst. Two years into that project, I was taking pictures of a fatal roll over near my house and just at the key moment when the pickup truck was to be lifted off the victims a highway patrol officer stepped in front of me and blocked the shot. Making some totally bogus claim that it was not allowed. A few days later I was contacted by the County district attorney asking about the pictures I had taken --- seems they needed exactly the shot I was prevented from taking to prove who was driving the truck when it rolled. They were also very unhappy that the State Patrol officer prevented the photo from being taken.
They were not able to convict the survivor because that key photo was unavailable.
There is a great deal to be learned from post crash photos of the cars structure. Things like brackets that were severely stressed but held. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Did they hold because of good design or dumb luck. Were they severely stressed due to poor design, and their construction or simply exposed to overwhelming and reasonably expected forces.
Sometimes you learn the most from the things that almost failed but yielded dramatically. Some times crash forces are re-directed through the structure to distant locations you would not even consider.
That said, I understand the emotional reaction of those that think there is some evil intent for anyone who wants to know why and how. If I or a friend was severely hurt or killed in a racing accident I would damn well want every person involved in the sport to have access to any lessons learned from my "experiment".
We will never get to the level of examination seen in incidents like the Earnhardt accident, simply because the money and resources are not available, nor can the first responders devote time to that documentation during the rescue phase. I understand that there is crash investigation performed but how available it is outside the higher levels of the sponsoring organization I do not know.
The last problem is that as soon as you take those pictures and prepare that summary, you become subject to being involved in legal actions that might follow as was my case with the fatal accident. They asked if I would show them the pictures, but they could just as easily have subpoenaed them. My court appearance was not optional either, so we have to be aware of the legal exposures created by that sort of access and documentation.
If joe blow racer can see all the details so can joe blow attorney who might be tasked with finding someone to blame for what happened. Its a sad state of affairs when that sort of legal action stifles obvious and reasonable efforts to investigate cause and effect.
Larry
