Digital Reconstitution of Road Traffic Accidents: A Flexible Methodology Relying on UAV Surveying and Complementary Strategies to Support Multiple Scenarios

Abstract

The reconstitution of road traffic accidents scenes is a contemporary and important issue, addressed both by private and public entities in different countries around the world. However, the task of collecting data on site is not generally focused on with the same orientation and relevance. Addressing this type of accident scenario requires a balance between two fundamental yet competing concerns: (1) information collecting, which is a thorough and lengthy process and (2) the need to allow traffic to flow again as quickly as possible. This technical note proposes a novel methodology that aims to support road traffic authorities/professionals in activities involving the collection of data/evidences of motor vehicle collision scenarios by exploring the potential of using low-cost, small-sized and light-weight unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). A high number of experimental tests and evaluations were conducted in various working conditions and in cooperation with the Portuguese law enforcement authorities responsible for investigating road traffic accidents. The tests allowed for concluding that the proposed method gathers all the conditions to be adopted as a near future approach for reconstituting road traffic accidents and proved to be: faster, more rigorous and safer than the current manual methodologies used not only in Portugal but also in many countries worldwide.

Fast and High Precise Spatial Documentation of Traffic Accident Site Using Only Low-Cost RPAS

“…8.5 min. The authors of [2] also conducted a few flights. A comparable flight (flight height of approx.…”

“…The first is to document evidence, and the second is to subsequently improve safety around traffic accident sites. Often, two or three vehicles are involved in most traffic accidents [2]. Traffic police in the Czech Republic use conventional methods for traffic accident site documentation, mainly through implementing a surveying wheel and steel tapelines.…”

“…The authors also concluded that the SIFT algorithm is robust but takes a long time to calculate. The authors of [2] described many traffic accident scenarios utilizing RPAS. There is, for example, a scenario operating with poor light conditions or darkness.…”

An Approach to the Automatic Construction of a Road Accident Scheme Using UAV and Deep Learning Methods

“…The authors in [12] raised questions about the reconstruction of the scene of a traffic accident. They reported about the method of collecting data (aerial photographs) using UAV, as well as comparing the use of UAV of various classes in different weather conditions, lighting, etc.…”

Accuracy of 3D Landscape Reconstruction without Ground Control Points Using Different UAS Platforms

“…The recent rapid development of relatively low-cost (<US$25,000) small unmanned aerial systems (UASs) (<25 kg) has resulted in their use in a myriad of disciplines. Applications in precision agriculture [1,2], archeological reconstruction [3,4], forestry [5,6], geomorphology [7][8][9], freshwater and marine systems [10][11][12], environmental monitoring [13,14], animal population studies [15][16][17][18], and recently, traffic accident reconstruction [19,20] are just a few of the fields where UASs have been exploited and continue to grow with enhanced platform capabilities (e.g., real-time analysis) [21], advanced sensors [22][23][24] and diverse software implementations [25,26]. The high accuracy and precision (i.e., cm error) of results obtained for 2D (e.g., orthomosaics) and 3D (e.g., digital surface model-DSM) mapping, based on structure from motion with multiview stereo photogrammetry (SfM-MVS), is transforming most disciplines where studies need to characterize areas Drones 2020, 4, 13 2 of 26 up to~100 hectares [1,27,28].…”