Technical experts – a point of

view of a judicial accident

expert (expert witness)
Dr. Attila GÖNCZI
POLITEHNICA University of Timisoara
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Judicial expert (expert witness) in road

accident reconstruction and analysis

Mottos:
An expert will always state the obvious.
The more knowledge you gained, the less
certain you are of it.
Short presentation

• Engineer specialized in agricultural machines in the

basic technical education.
• Development engineer in a prototype department of a
machine factory.
• Design engineer in the same factory
• Assistant lecturer at PUT
• PhD in mechanical engineering – soil tillage machines
• Since 1999 judicial expert in motor vehicles and traffic
accidents
 Some basic knowledge about experts
• An expert is one who knows more and
Definition more about less and less until he knows
absolutely everything about nothing.
How to • To spot the expert, pick the one who
find THE predicts the job will take the longest
expert and cost the most.
• If you can't understand it, it is intuitively
Motto obvious.
Source (Murphy’s laws and … real life)
How to become a better expert

• Work smarder and not harder and be

careful of yor speling.
• Any simple theory will be worded in
the most complicated way.
• Corollary: the expert will word it even
more complicated!
Definition (a more serious one)

• An expert is someone widely

recognized as a reliable source of
technique or skill whose faculty for
judging or deciding rightly, justly, or
wisely is accorded authority and
status by peers or the public in a
specific well-distinguished domain.
• An expert, more generally, is a person
with extensive knowledge or ability based
on research, experience, or occupation
and in a particular area of study.
• An expert can be believed, by virtue of
credential, training, education, profession,
publication and/or experience, to have
special knowledge of a subject beyond
that of the average person, sufficient that
others may officially (and legally) rely
upon the individual's opinion
 Some characteristics of an expert
• Deep knowledge of his/her basic field of profession
(e.g. automotive engineering).
• Good knowledge of his/her larger profession (e.g.
mechanical or electrical engineering).
• Basic knowledge of fields which are relevant but are
part of other fields of science (e.g. biomechanics for
passive safety engineers, or optometric for vision
enhancement).
• Capacity to understand and learn new ideas, even if
they are very far from the way of thinking specific to
his/or her basic profession.
• Not to forget: In today's fast-moving tech
environment, it is a requirement that we forget more
than we learn.
Fields of knowledge for an
accident reconstructionist
• Accident investigation on site
• Human factors in road traffic (perception-reaction time,
moving speed for pedestrians, etc)
• Deceleration measurement
• Road safety. Road engineering basics.
• Alcohol and drugs effect on drivers and other
participants in traffic
• Motor vehicle dynamics.
• Motorized and non-motorized two wheelers dynamics
• Pedestrian-vehicle impacts
• Collisions between vehicles and with fixed obstacles.
• Biomechanics and basic knowledge of
• Computer simulation of collisions
• FEM based passenger movement simulations (e.g.
MADYMO)
• Photogrammetry and computer programs
Fields of knowledge for an
accident reconstructionist (cont.)
• Lighting technique
• Motor vehicles insurance frauds
• Glass in motor vehicles
• Tires of the motor vehicles
• Painting and other surface coating in automotive
engineering.
• Vehicle identification
• Error estimation in accident reconstruction
Very important added value

• Wide and various culture (in a broader sense).

• Open mindedness and communication skills