Method of Light Bulbs Analysis on Vehicles Damaged in Traffic Accidents

Abstract

One of the measures to increase road traffic safety in Croatia is the introduction of obligatory use of daily lights on vehicles in road traffic during driving, regardless of the visibility and the time of day. The paper describes the new original technical and technological procedure of analysing automotive light bulbs in order to find the traces of glass particles of the broken glass balloon in the marginal cases of action of small inertia forces generated as result of a traffic accident. Investigations of light bulbs in traffic accidents had been rarely done before; therefore the subject of this scientific research is the analysis of the light bulb filament used in automobiles to light the road ahead and to give light signals, i.e. all the light signalling devices on the automobile using the new technical and technological procedure by means of SEM/EDX method. The scientific research has improved the investigation procedure in analysing the light bulbs on automobiles in determining whether at the moment of the traffic accident the regulatory lights were switched on. In determining the responsibility of participants for causing the traffic accident, such a fact may sometimes be of crucial significance. KEY WORDS: traffic accident, light bulb, technical and technological procedure, lights in traffic, microscope, molten glass particles

Harnessing Electron Microscope for Trace Evidence Analysis

“…Horvat et al [58] introduced a novel technical and technological approach for examining automotive light bulbs to detect trace particles of shattered glass in cases involving minimal inertia forces resulting from a traffic accident. Given the limited prior investigations into light bulbs in such accidents, the study focuses on analyzing the filaments of light bulbs used in cars for illuminating the road and signaling, incorporating a new technical procedure utilizing the SEM/EDX method.…”

‘Jigsaw fit’ analysis: The key to solving difficult forensic cases

“…-the investigation of car light bulbs to establish whether they were lit at the time of a road accident (Żołna, 2014;Horvat et al, 2010); -the examination of damaged tyres to determine whether the damage was caused by the tyre blowing out due to uneven pressure or by a puncture when it hit another vehicle or an obstacle (Żołna, 2020); -examination of impact marks on pedestrians' shoes and clothing to determine their direction of movement and position in relation to a car (Kadłuczka, Kania, 2005); -the testing of seat belts to determine whether or not they were fastened at the time of an accident (Rábek, 2012). • The examination of large fragments of broken panes of glass to establish from which side they were broken (Michalska, Zadora, Świętek, 2015).…”

Development of Mev-Eds Methodology for Forensic Analysis on Automotive Headlights

“…In forensic analysis, the most commonly employed method for examination of motor In this context, some interesting works on forensic analysis involving automotive headlights have been published in the literature 5,9 . For instance, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation of halogen bulbs from a vehicle that was involved in a car accident (real case) 8 led to the conclusion that one of the headlights of such vehicle was off prior to the impact, thus evidencing irregular circumstances at the time of the accident.…”