Dana Koran flashcards

What is your name?

Dana Koran

College/University Degrees

• PHD in Stats from Clarkstown Uni

• Undergraduate degree in civil engineering from UMD college park

Occupation Title

Forensic specialist in vehicle accident investigation

Where do you work?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for 16 years

What do you do for your occupation?

• Look at the remnants of an accident to see if any mechanical or design features of the vehicles may have caused or over-done the results of the accident

Experience in occupation

• Seen 500+ accidents (200 in MD)

• I’ve testified in ~40 trials w/ vehicular accidents

What is published every year by your sector?

My sector publishes the “Crash Statistics Report” → analyzes crash data sent to NHTSA from state motor vehicle associations

What did you do on July 5th? (in chronological order)

1. Called by Maryland State Police early morning, to look at the accident

2. Met with Tropper Zeigler to look at the accident report

3. Went to the impound lot to look at the vehicles involved

4. Trooper Zeigler took me to the accident scene on North-South highway

What did you notice about the involved vehicles at the impound lot?

• Tonka Rev-80 was in terrible shape

  • Roof had collapsed on passenger side

  • All of the glass on front, rear, and side windows was shattered

  Those two indicated that the car had definitely rolled over

  • A layer of cement dust on the front and side of the driver’s side wheel

    • Indicated SUV had skidded on median strip

What did you notice at the accident scene?

• Rubber skid mark of ~14 feet on the median strip, going from the bottom → top of concrete curb

  • Indicated that the beginning of the skid mark = point of impact, and the slight incline of the mark showed that Rev-80 went up + over the median

What do you know about how the accident occurred?

• When Rev-80 went into southbound lane, it hit the Ford F150 on front driver side

• Rev-80 rolled 5 times after impact

• SUV rested on grassy area ~81 feet from southbound shoulder

Statistcs about roll-over crashes

• Rollover crashes → counts for one of every four people who die in auto accidents each year

• Study conducted by NHTSA + published in USA Today → Tonka REV-80s have a 38%-43.9% chance of rolling over, when the vehicle is tripped by a curb (among other circumstances)

  • every 10 accidents a Tonka REV-80 is involved, rollover happens in ~4 of the crashes

• If Alex had driven a four door sedan, rollover risk woulda dropped, probs to less than 9%

Why are rollovers not caused by drivers themselves?

• Studies conducted by NHTSA says that the tendency to roll for some vehicles is greater than others

• The K Index shows this; formula uses height, weight, and track width to determine roll-over likeliness

What is your overall stance?

• The Tonka Rev-80, the vehicle itself, played a major role in the outcome of the accident; in terms of the deaths

• Vehicles like the Tonka Rev-80, w/ high roll likeliness, should be banned from highways

• Not saying Alex is innocent, just saying that the extent of the damages (3 deaths and 2 injuries) were influenced by the structural flaw of the Tonka Rev-80