Low-Speed Impact Severity Evaluations

Substantial personal injury claims can often arise as a result of a seemingly minor accident resulting in relatively low repair costs to the involved vehicles. These accidents come in all forms with rear-end and sideswipe collisions being the most common. The reported injuries typically involve soft-tissue injuries (e.g. strains, sprains, whiplash, etc.) to the neck and back, resulting in months or years of physical therapy or continued treatment.

Although injuries are often sustained in collisions, the number of fraudulent claims resulting from low-speed impacts has risen in recent years, and statistics show that as many as 59 percent of soft-tissue injury claims are excessive. The question often arises – did the vehicle occupants actually suffer injuries requiring sustained medical treatment as a result of a collision? Based on the minor damage to the vehicles, the extent of the claimed injuries may seem questionable.

Figure 1: Minor damage from a low-speed impact

Figure 2: Test dummy during rear-end collision testing

In these questionable claims, it is important to verify the likelihood of injury to the vehicle occupants by determining the severity of the collision. "Black box" data can be helpful in a low-speed crash analysis, as the data typically shows the speed of the vehicle prior to the impact, if and when the brakes were applied, and also a graph of the crash severity. In supported vehicles, the black box data should always be imaged, as this is the most precise way to ascertain the crash severity.

Absent downloadable data, an analysis can be completed based on provided or collected evidence (e.g. photographs, police reports, measured vehicle damage, damage estimates, etc.) to determine the severity of a collision.  This crash severity is then compared to a large database of tested collisions involving human volunteers and test dummies to determine the likelihood (or lack thereof) of the claimed injuries by the vehicle occupants.  This information is useful in evaluating injury claims to ascertain their validity.