NCJ Number
201483
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 30 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2003 Pages: 148-151
Date Published
July 2003
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes a new Web-based program to assist police officers in traffic accident investigations.
Abstract
The Accident Reconstruction Communications (ARC) Network designed a program to help police departments around the country reduce the costs of investigating traffic accidents. The ARC Network provides online access to crucial vehicle information that police departments are currently paying for, information such as vehicle crush stiffness and individual vehicle specifications. The information in the Vehicle Crush Stiffness Database comes from the NHTSA crash testing and provides reliable information about vehicle crush stiffness coefficients. The other database accessible via the ARC Network program is the Vehicle Specifications Database, which contains up-to-date information about most vehicle makes and models from 1971 through 2003. The ARC Network program is described as quick, user-friendly, and a major cost-savings program, estimated to save departments up to $880,000 each year. According to the ARC Network, over 40 percent of the country’s State police agencies are currently using the program. Included in the article is a textbox describing the ARC Network, which was founded in 1998 by a collision analyst and expert witness.