This collision animation demonstrates what happened after a driver lost control on the ice and crashed into a tree.

A driver and his fiance were returning home shortly after midnight when they were unexpectedly confronted by an unmarked reverse curve that was partially covered with ice and snow. Upon encountering the ice at the designated speed limit of 40 mph, the driver applied his brakes. His tires immediately lost traction and his vehicle slid into the opposite lane. The driver struggled to return the vehicle to its designated lane of travel, but when his tires regained traction, he accelerated out of control. After veering offroad to the left, his vehicle was slingshotted to the right where it crashed through a tree on the side of the road, flipped over, and came to a rest on its driver's side.

The passenger is now a quadriplegic, and James E. Monroe, Esq., needed to show why she deserved compensation for her catastrophic injuries. The primary focus of liability was that the city should have placed a warning sign and a speed limit of 25 mph ahead of the curve. Whereas the city did have a warning sign with a speed limit of 25 mph for the Eastbound lane, there was no sign for the Westbound lane and the speed limit was marked at 40 mph.

We laser scanned the entire length of the roadway shown in the animation while capturing technical photography. We also conducted video drive-throughs while geo-tagging locations of signs and objects along the way. The nighttime settings were determined on a separate inspection by Human Factors Expert Dr. Joseph B. Sala, and the headlight illumination was determined through IES lab testing.