Accident Simulation

This virtual reconstruction of a deadly accident was presented to the jury of a court case and involved the replacement of a telephone pole by a work crew.

The existing pole was sawed off a few feet above the ground. In a proper design, the incoming and outgoing telephone cables and the anchored guys are supposed to keep the cut off pole in a balanced position. In this case, however, the cables had been attached to the wrong side of the pole and the guys were attached too low and did not properly bisect the angle between incoming and outgoing cables. As a result of the unanticipated forces, the sawed off pole started to move and pushed a member of the work crew against the rear wheel of a utility truck causing severe injuries.


Scene overview and stages of the accident:

Web size (76K) Web size (59K)

Web size (67K) Web size (69K)


Load a video showing the accident simulation: QuickTime (577K) or MPEG (359K)


Last Update: December 20, 2002, kpb
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