X the TEXT, PSNI COLLISON INVESTIGATION

X the TEXT, PSNI COLLISON INVESTIGATION UNIT AND DAMIEN COLL CHIEF FORENSNIC SCIENTIST VISITS

LIMAVADY CUSTOM CRUISERS

The PSNI Collision Investigation Unit and the Chief Forensic Scientist gave
an enthralling presentation at a meeting of Limavady Custom Cruisers on how
they determine the cause of a fatal road traffic collision. Representatives
from Allstate NI demonstrated the 'X the txt' campaign and those in
attendance had the opportunity to realise how dangerous it is to text whilst
driving.

Sergeant Amanda Kenny of the PSNI and Damien Coll, the top forensic
scientist in Northern Ireland, outlined how the Collision Investigation Unit
goes about determining the cause of a traffic collision via undertaking a
detailing reconstruction of the events leading up to and involving the
traffic collision.

• Such items which are examined to ascertain the cause of a collision are;
  Tell tale signs on the road surface such as skid/braking marks to
  indicate the speed the vehicle was travelling in order to determine if that
  had a contributing factor
• The position of the occupants in the vehicle and whether or not they
  had been wearing seat belts prior to the collision
• The weather conditions and road surface condition at the scene

In the event of a fatality, the driver's mobile phone is seized and using
bespoke PSNI software examined to find out if the driver had been on the
phone or sending/in the process of writing a text message at the time of the
crash.  Also mandatory blood tests would be taken to rule out the presence
of drink or drugs in the drivers' system.

Damien Coll presented a case study of a road traffic collision which took
place on New Years Eve several years ago.  The incident involved a car with
four occupants which failed to negotiate a bend, striking a tree.  The front
seat passenger, was killed instantly, whilst the two other rear seat
passengers suffered horrific life changing injuries. The driver was
relatively unhurt.

Mr Coll explained the step by step reconstruction and how they determined
that the cause of the collision was a combination of the car having a
defective valve fitted to the rear driver side wheel, reducing the tyre
pressure and the driver having an above a legal limit of alcohol reading.   The PPS prosecuted the driver for driving with excess alcohol. 

Meanwhile, Stephen Lomas and Christina McGrath from Allstate NI, as part of
the 'Thumbs up to X the txt' campaign undertook an experiment with
participants into the effects of texting whilst driving on a driver's
ability to safely control a vehicle.  The test involved using a Nintendo Wii
and the game Mario Kart. 

Participants had to enter a predefined text message as accurately as
possible whilst completing a lap of the track in the game.  It quickly
became apparent to the young participants that it wasn't as easy as they had
thought with many crashing repeatedly during the lap.
At the end of the night Inspector Stephen Haslett in thanking the speakers
highlighted the dangers of distraction driving, in particular texting while
driving and said "everyone had the opportunity to use technology to
demonstrate the effect of texting on their driving skills through the X the
Text campaign.  The Police Collision Investigation Unit coupled with the
work of Chief Forensic Scientist Damien Coll demonstrated only too vividly
the dangers associated with not paying full attention to the road and how
their skills can determine the causation factors in a road traffic collision
and anyone charged with causing death by dangerous driving can receive a
custodial sentence".