OHP Trains With Technology Designed To Reconstruct Big Rig Accidents

Cutting-edge technology will take Highway Patrol investigators inside some of Oklahoma's deadliest crashes. OHP is teaming up with the University of Tulsa to reconstruct big rig accidents.

Troopers said the new technology connects directly to the engine to pinpoint everything - from how fast a truck was going to when the driver hit the brakes.

Investigators said the system takes the guesswork out of accident reports and may be the key to unlocking what went wrong on the road.

A TU professor created the patent-pending system designed to help reconstruct big rig accidents and is explaining how it works to OHP investigators.

“What we are doing is learning how to download engine control modules on commercial motor vehicles, big trucks. That will give us crash data when we are working crashes involving commercial vehicles,” said OHP Lieutenant, James Loftis.

It would've helped the investigation into Oklahoma's deadliest crash; a multi-car pileup that closed the Will Rogers Turnpike near Miami in June of 2009.

Troopers said a semi heading east didn't slow down for a tractor trailer.

The semi ended up on top of three vehicles and a 12-year-old girl was trapped in the car with her dead parents. Some SUVs were crushed beyond recognition and ten people died.

The new diagnostic system would have determined speed, the impact of a crash and if the driver was using cruise control.

Knowing what went wrong helps OHP prevent accidents in the future.

“It is a tool in the toolbox that we use. We do a full reconstruction but we don't have any way of validating those speeds that we come up with a lot of times,” Loftis said. “This will be a way to validate that.”

OHP troopers already have a similar system for passenger cars, but this will only be used to reconstruct deadly big truck accidents and multiple car pileups, like the one in June of 2009.

The system can range from $4,000 to $20,000.

“We are only buying one tool now since that's all we have the funding for. When funding becomes available we will try and get more tools across the state,” Loftis said.

The new diagnostic system will be rolled out by the end of November. OHP said it will likely be used nationwide.