Featured Case
Nighttime Tractor-Trailer Crash
When a tractor-trailer operator drove down a road and ran into the back of the motorbike that was directly ahead of him, and should have been visible at a point farther back than the 30ft the driver claimed, Iconographics created a series of animations showing the bike was conspicuous, and how enabling the HIGH-BEAMS on this rural stretch of road would have given the driver even more than enough time to avoid the crash.
CHALLENGE
The jury would need to understand the scenario involving:
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Headlight Usage: On a dark remote rural road with no oncoming traffic, the driver should have used his high-beam headlights to provide better visibility. Attentive tractor-trailer drivers scan the roadway ahead of them for potential hazards, keeping 10-15 seconds of vigilance.
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Speed and Distance: Despite the motorbike and tractor-trailer traveling at 40 and 50 MPH respectively (with a slow closing speed of 10 MPH) it would have taken over 34 seconds for the tractor-trailer to overrun the bike, from the point when the bike’s tail light was first visible to the driver.
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Reaction Time and Avoidance: The driver only needed to let off the gas to avoid the crash and match the motorbike’s speed. The tractor-trailer could have stopped in under 5 seconds.
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Visibility Range of Headlights: It took over 10 seconds to overrun the motorbike 150 feet from behind with low-beam headlights. It would have taken over 20 seconds (twice as long) to overrun the motorbike from 300 feet from behind with high-beam headlights.
It was nearly impossible to explain verbally the events leading up to the crash without some sort of aerial map showing the crash sequence overlaid with a contour map of the LOW and HIGH-BEAM headlight's maximum profile.
VISUAL STRATEGY
Iconographics created aerial map animations depicting the crash sequence on the dark, remote rural road. The map included the tractor-trailer and motorbike in motion, showing their speeds and the closing speed between them. The animations also featured a contour map overlay that represented the maximum profiles of both low and high-beam headlights, and highlighted the visibility ranges, positions, and distances involved in the crash. These visual aids explained the events leading up to the crash and the impact of headlight usage on visibility. The videos demonstrated how avoidable the crash would have been if the driver had enabled his high-beam headlights, providing him with better visibility on the rural dark road and more time to react.
Expert’s Contour Maps of Maximum Profiles for Low and High-Beam Headlights
LOW-BEAM
HIGH-BEAM
RECREATION–LOW BEAM:
The 1st animation showed how far the low-beam headlights on the semi-trailer cast forward as the truck approached the area of impact (AOI). When the low-beams illuminated the back of the motorbike, the video paused to show an overlaid blue outline of the high-beam contour map, twice as far as the beam cast by the low beams.
RECREATION–LOW BEAM
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO–HIGH BEAM:
The 2nd animation showed how far the high-beam headlights on the semi-trailer would have cast forward as the truck approached the area of impact (AOI). When the high-beam’s illuminated the back of the motorbike, the video paused to show an overlaid red outline of the low-beam contour map, half as far as the beam cast by the low beams.
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO–HIGH BEAM
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO–HIGH BEAMS ENABLED:
The 3rd animation demonstrated how an attentive driver should have prudently turned on their high-beam headlights when the Vespa’s taillight became visible.
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO–HIGH BEAMS ENABLED
RESULT
The animations helped Mr. Kleinberg shine light on the Defendant’s negligence by failing to use his high beams in a remote rural area where it would have been prudent to do so. The animations helped him reach a successful confidential settlement for his client.
“Thank you Iconographics for outstanding support and a high-quality work product.”
–DAVID KLEINBERG, ESQ., Neufeld, Kleinberg & Pinkiert, P.A.