1st Edition

Investigation of Road Traffic Fatalities An Atlas

By Jay Dix, Michael Graham, Randy Hanzlick Copyright 2000
    122 Pages
    by CRC Press

    122 Pages
    by CRC Press

    The screech of rubber against asphalt. And then the crash: a violent two-car collision resulting in a twisted mass of metal, plastic, and glass-and worse, the deaths of both drivers.

    Accident reconstruction is but one phase of road traffic fatality (RTF) cases. Even as police officers draw their last diagram, interview their last witness, and reconstruct their final scenario, a different team of investigators works diligently on solving another puzzle: determining how the victims actually died.

    Investigation of Road Traffic Fatalities: An Atlas covers the issues that face medical examiners and coroners in determining the nature and extent of RTF injuries as well as the cause, manner, and circumstances of death. Also ideal for medicolegal death investigators and law enforcement personnel who work with medical examiners and coroners during RTF investigations, this Atlas covers everything from "Typical road traffic fatality injuries" to "Injuries caused by safety/restraint devices" and "Autopsy and toxicology testing."

    For anyone involved in RTF probes, Investigation of Road Traffic Fatalities: An Atlas is essential reading.

    PART I: ROAD TRAFFIC FATALITIES
    Cause, Manner, and Circumstances of Death
    RTF Investigation vs. RTF Reconstruction
    Jurisdictional and Statutory Considerations
    Who Usually Does What?
    Basic Events
    General Classifications of RTFs
    Common Questions to be Answered During RTF Investigations
    Injuries Caused by Safety/Restraint Devices
    Basic Injury Mechanisms
    Common but Critical Investigative Mistakes
    Factors that Raise Suspicion for Suicide
    Typical Road Traffic Fatality Injuries
    Artifactual Injuries
    Preparing to Investigate
    Initial Procedures at the Scene
    Primary Investigative Tasks
    Overall Goals of the Investigation
    The Autopsy and Toxicology Testing
    PART II: ATLAS

    Biography

    Jay Dix, M.D. is Medical Examiner for Boone County, Missouri, and Associate Professor of Pathology/Chief of Forensic Pathology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia. Michael Graham, M.D. is the Chief Medical Examiner for the City of St. Louis, Missouri; Professor of Pathology at St. Louis University Health Sciences Center; and Co-Director of its Division of Forensic Pathology. Randy Hanzlick, M.D. is Chief Medical Examiner for Fulton County, Georgia; Associate Professor of Forensic Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta; and Forensic Pathologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.

    "…these volumes are appropriate for the target readership of death investigators, law enforcement officers, and attorneys…Physicians-in-training, in such specialties as Pathology, Emergency Medicine, and Surgery would benefit from careful reading of these books…I anticipate that the remaining volumes in this series will prove equally useful."
    --Laurence R. Simson, Jr., MD,
    Forensic Pathologist, Journal of Forensic Sciences