Accident Reconstruction, Vehicle Mechanical, EDR “Black Box” Analysis — Consulting & Expert Witness
Dr. McElroy is a triple certified ASE Master Technician in Automobile, Medium / Heavy Truck, & Collision. He is a certified accident reconstructionist through ACTAR and was formerly employed by General Motors as a staff technical instructor. His degree areas are Industrial Safety Engineering, Industrial Education, and Industrial Technology..
He is an internationally recognized vehicle technical expert specializing in the scientific use of forensic evidence for vehicle failure analysis and to reconstruct transportation and industrial accidents since 1986.
His focus is to consistently provide accurate and technically precise analysis and opinions, authoritatively presented depositions, quality trial exhibits, and reliable expert trial testimony. He has participated in approximately 1,000 depositions and 100 trials.
He specializes in technical failure and collision analysis related to automobiles, heavy trucks, and industrial vehicles.
He was a member of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) committee dealing with collision Event Data Recorders (EDR) for both private passenger cars and trucks & busses. Dr. McElroy has worked with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) involving vehicle crash recorder technology and initiatives. He was both a member and treasurer of the IEEE P1616 Committee developing standards for Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorders. Dr. McElroy is the past Chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) EDR Committee developing standards and recommended practices for EDR’s.
To contact Dr. Robert McElroy:
-
352-633-7696 Office
-
561-703-3881 Cellphone
-
561-445-0772 Office Cellphone
-
1364 E. Schwartz Blvd, Lady Lake, FL 32159
To Email Dr. McElroy: rm@forensicaccident.com
time-distance calculations
Dr. McElroy specializes in motor vehicle technology and accident reconstruction. This typically entails physical inspection of the damaged vehicles, examination of the accident scene, and reconstruction of collision events using engineering calculations based primarily on momentum, energy, and restitution equations.
Event Data Recorders (EDR’s) are transportation devices which record unique vehicle information pertaining to an accident, crash or event. In surface transportation EDR’s can capture initial vehicle speed, speed change or delta V, brake application and accelerator application. Specific data recorded is a function of the EDR system. Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) EDR’s provide significant foundation information to determine key facts pertaining to vehicle movement leading up to an event. EDR’s fitted by the OEM are referred to as Type I. Type II EDR’s are fitted supplemental to the vehicle. In the event the vehicle does not have a Type I system, the Type II unit needs to also record basic information. Type II units can record significant additional information and perform other important services such as providing a driver’s eye video of what happened and Automatic Collision Notification (ACN).
Vehicle collisions seemed to occur almost from the first moment that cars and trucks were built and put into service. Traffic Accident Reconstruction (TAR) as a specific discipline began to come together as an automotive engineering science in the period of the 1960’s to 1980’s. Scientifically analyzing wrecks evolved over decades in an attempt to both make vehicles safer in collisions and to determine what happened in the event. Improvements in the entire transportation system could not be justifiably implemented until scientists and engineers could determine what happened in the wreck. In the 1990’s it became clear that to advance surface transportation safety to the next higher level individual vehicle event data recorders were essential. Vehicle complexity with sophisticated electronics and occupant safety systems require an electronic device which can capture information about a crash and permit post crash analysis. Collisions typically occur in about one tenth of a second and the amount of data generated can require many hours of post crash analysis to determine who, what, when, where, and why an event occurred in addition to analysis required to evaluate performance of the vehicle in a particular type of crash. Sophisticated vehicles and a complex transportation system demand technology which can help researchers analyze complex crashes to not only figure out a particular wreck but to also provide foundation material from which to implement improvement in the transportation system.
Civil and criminal litigation in addition to university, OEM, and insurance company research activities make up the bulk of consumers for crash data outside of the Federal government. Research carried out by each entity has a specific focus which ultimately will add to the body of knowledge about today’s vehicle and transportation system. Civil and criminal litigation typically focuses on the driver and what they were doing to control their vehicle at the time of the collision. Injuries and fatalities in highway collisions can result in expensive medical treatments above and beyond compensation for an individual’s personal injury or loss of mobility. It is common for financial exposure to be in the millions of dollars.
Insurance, Trucking and Vehicle Rental Industries
