Accident Terms and Definitions

Impaired Driving
Can be alcohol or any oher substance that changes judgement while driving. Impaired driving will affect one in three Americans during their lifetimes (NHTSA 2001a).

Pedestrian Manifestations
Those items of evidence deposited at the collision scene by the pedestrian during or following impact.

Velocity
Speed and direction; used to describe a mode of functioning which is efficient and tightly aligned with conscious intention.

Injury Rights
Regardless of who is at fault for an automobile accident, your insurance company is responsible for paying your initial medical expenses.

Impending Skidmarks
Also known as shadow skidmarks are small fragments of rubber, ground or scraped from the tire, at the tire and roadway interface, as the rotating tire slows to a locked position.

Collision
Pays for damage to your car caused by physical contact with another vehicle or with another object, such as a tree, boulder, guardrail, structure, or person.

Blood alcohol testing
At all levels of blood alcohol concentration, the risk of being involved in a crash is greater for young people than it is for older people (Mayhew 1986). In 2001, 25% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking alcohol (NHTSA 2002b).

Disregarding traffic controls
Can be going through a red light or stopping at a green light, diregarding special signals in traffic.

Tort
An injury or wrong committed, with or without force, to the person or property of another, which gives rise to a claim for damages.

Reference Point
In angular momentum, the point in space around which the motion of an object is described. The angular momentum of an object is defined in relation to some point, the reference point. The velocity and radius of an object are measured from the reference point.