THE IMPORTANCE OF COURT CRAFT FOR THE ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTIONIST

A well researched and logically concluded report by a professional accident reconstructionist on the probable causes of a road traffic accident should enable a lawyer acting for a client to decide whether an action for civil damages is viable and, if the report is favourable to the client's interest, should usually be a sufficient basis for the matter to be settled without the need to argue it before the courts. The same report, however, does not necessarily lead to such a satisfactory conclusion if its content has to be presented at a trial of the matter. Many individuals involved in the accident reconstruction field perform poorly when tendering their evidence from a witness box because they either are unqualified to act as an expert in that field or suffer from one or more of a number of failings that could be overcome with a better understanding of their role and the trial process. This paper is based upon the author's personal experience of tendering expert evidence in such cases and discusses some of the pitfalls that exist in doing so, illustrates a number of them by reference to recently recorded judgements and proffers some guidelines on how to avoid them. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see IRRD abstract no. E200025.