Traffic Management and Accident Investigation Reviewer
On criminology
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| Highway Patrol Group |
Traffic
Management and Accident Investigation Reviewer (Definition of Terms)
Accident (Legal meaning) – an accident is any happening beyond the control of a person the consequences of which are not foreseeable.
Accident (Legal meaning) – an accident is any happening beyond the control of a person the consequences of which are not foreseeable.
(There is no criminal liability in an accident provided, the following requisites or elements under the law must be satisfied;
1. performance of a lawful act
2. with due care
3. causes injury to another by mere accident
4. without any fault or intention of causing it
Articulated Vehicle - shall mean any motor vehicle with a trailer having no front axle and so attached that part of the trailer rest upon the motor vehicle and a substantial part of the weight of the trailer and of its load is born by the motor vehicle.
Benz Patent-Motorwagen - (motorcar) built in 1886, is widely regarded as the first automobile. It is a vehicle designed to be propelled by an internal combustion engine.
Box Junction - is a road traffic control measure designed to prevent
congestion and gridlock at junctions. A road area at a junction marked
with a yellow grid, which a vehicle should enter only if its exit from
it is clear. Box junctions were introduced in UK during 1967,
following a successful trial in London.
Chain of Events – is the making up of accident or the link which
explains the occurrence of the accident and its components are present
in every accident.
Perception of hazard – is the point of sensory warning at
which the operator sensed the approaching hazard. The driver
may not comprehend or recognized the hazard in all of its
implications at this point of perception, but there was a
warning. The normal routine is perception, realization, or
recognition, decision, and action.
Possible Perception - is a link in the accident chain dealing
with the reaction of a normal person. Prompt perception occurs
when possible and actual perception are very close. Maximum
delayed perception occurs when actual perception is delayed
until impact shock alerts the driver..
Encroachment – is the movement of a vehicle into the path
assigned to the other traffic unit.
Evasive Action – is the first action taken by a traffic unit
to escape from a collision course or otherwise avoid the hazard.
Point of no escape – is that location and that time after or
beyond which an accident cannot be prevented by the driver or
pedestrian.
Initial Contact – it is the first accidental touching of an
object collided with by a traffic unit in motion.
Maximum Engagement – is the greatest collapse or overlap in a
collision.
Disengagement – is the separation of a traffic unit in motion
from an object with which it has collided.
Final Rest of Stopping – it usually stabilizes the accident
situation where both vehicles in a collision has ceases its
force, and stopping may occur with or without control by the
driver or pedestrian.
Classification of Road
1. National Road
2. Provincial Road
3. City Road
4. Municipal Road
5. Barangay Road
6. Private Road
Compressed Air Car - is an alternative fuel car that uses a motor
powered by compressed air. The car can be powered solely by air, or
by air combined (as in a hybrid electric vehicle) with gasoline,diesel,
ethanol, or electric plant.
Crosswalks - are designed to keep pedestrians together where they can
be seen by motorists, and where they can cross most safely across the
flow of vehicular traffic.
Defensive Driving – is an act of driving while preventing accidents
despite of the wrong actions of others aggravated by the existence
of adverse driving conditions. Which requires knowledge, alertness,
foresight, judgment and skill.
Ferdinand Verbiest - a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the
first steam-powered vehicle around 1672 which was of small scale and
designed as a toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry
a driver or a passenger, but quite possibly, was the first working
steam-powered vehicle.
Force Majure – is an inevitable accident or casualty, an accident
produced by any physical cause which is irresistible. In other words
it is an Act of Man, such robbery, fire, fault, negligence,
rebellion, etc.
Fortuitous Event – an event which takes place by accident and could
not have been foreseen. In other words it is an Act of God which
could neither be foreseen nor resisted, such as earthquake,
lightning, flood, and the like.
Francois Isaac de Rivaz - A French and Swiss national who invented a
hydrogen powered internal combustion engine with electric ignition and
described it in a French patent published in 1807. In 1808 he fitted
it into a primitive working vehicle the world's first internal combustion
powered automobile.
Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle - FCHV was developed by Toyota in 2005. The
vehicle is powered by the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen
to power the motor driving the vehicle.
Geneva Convention on Road Traffic - September 19, 1949. Promotes the
development and safety of international road traffic by establishing
certain uniform rules.
Gottlieb Daimler - He invented the high-speed petrol engine.He is
also thought to have invented the first real motorcycle in 1885.
Gustave Trouve - In November 1881, Trouvé demonstrated a working
three-wheeled electric automobile at the International Exhibition of
Electricity in Paris.
Hit-and-run - is the act of causing (or contributing to) a traffic
accident (such as colliding with a person or a fixture), and failing
to stop and identify oneself afterwards. It is considered a crime in
most jurisdictions.
Characteristics of Hit-and Run Drivers
1. After living the scene, he dreads or frighten of being caught.
2. He may have left the accident scene because he was shocked,
injured, or intoxicated.
3. He may have been too confused to know he was doing.
4. He may have a long record of violations or accidents and
therefore a terrible fear of getting further involve with
the law.
5. More often, he fears financial loss specially if he does not
have liability insurance.
6. Hit-and run drivers do not have a establish method of
operation unlike criminals.
Imprudence – indicates deficiency of action. If a person fails to
take the necessary precaution to avoid injury to a person or damage
to property, there is imprudence. Imprudence usually involves lack
of skill.
Ivan Kulibin - a Russian mechanic and inventor, he developed in 1971
a human-pedalled, three-wheeled carriage with modern features such as
a flywheel, brake, gear box, and bearings.
Karl Friedrich Benz - was a German engine designer and car engineer,
generally regarded as the inventor of the first automobile powered by
an internal combustion engine, and together with Bertha Benz,
pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz.
Last Clear Chance - it means that the driver who is in the better
position to prevent the accident shoulders the responsibility of
preventing the accident. The last clear chance principle is always
applied in any traffic accidental investigation in order to justify
penalized the driver who was not defensive in its driving.
Lester Wire - a policeman in Salt Lake City, Utah. He developed the
first electric traffic light in 1912 which used red-green.
Macadam - is a type of road construction pioneered by Scottish engineer
John Loudon McAdam around 1820. The method simplified what had been
considered state of the art at that point. Single-sized aggregate layers
of small stones, with a coating of binder as a cementing agent, are
mixed in an open-structured roadway.
Mesopotamia - (Present Iraq) location of the oldest constructed roads
discovered to date. The stoned paved streets date back to about 4000 BC,
in the Mesopotamia cities of Ur and Babylon.
Milestone - The earliest road signs, giving distance or direction.
milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road
or boundary at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile.
They are typically located at the side of the road or in a median.
Motor Car Act 1903 - introduced registration of motor cars and
licensing of drivers in the United Kingdom and increased the
speed limit.
Motor Vehicle – shall mean any vehicle propelled by any power other
than muscular power using the public highways, but exempting road
rollers, trolley cars, street sweepers, bulldozers, graders,
fork-lifts, cranes, vehicles which runs only on rails or tracks,
tractors, trailers, and traction engine.
Negligence – indicates a deficiency of perception. If a person fails
to pay proper attention to use due diligence in foreseeing the injury
or damage impending to be caused there in negligence. Negligence
usually involves lack of skill.
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot - was a French inventor. He is known to have
built the first working self-propelled mechanical vehicle, the
world's first automobile.
Nikolaus August Otto - the German inventor of the first
internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a
piston chamber.
Paris - in 1964, first time that police women were used for traffic
control duties.
Pavement Markings – are markings on the roads and surfaces whereby a
message is conveyed by means of words or symbols, officially reflected
for the purpose of regulating, warning and guiding traffic.
May Indicate a Number of Things like
1. Where lanes are divided
2. Where you may pass other vehicles
3. Where you may change lanes or which lane to use for turns
4. Where pedestrian walkways are located
5. Where you may stop for traffic signs and traffic signals
Types of Pavement Markings
1. Curve Markings – are used to show where parking is legally
prohibited or not allowed, such Bus Stop, or in front of a
fire hydrant, drive way.
2. Object Markings – are painted on fixed poles, and on vertical
ends of bridges and ports to avoid accidents.
3. Reflectorized Markings – are used to mark hazardous areas
and also used as delineators or road limits, these delineators
are aids especially during night driving, particularly when
the alignment of a road changes and might confused the
operator of the vehicle.
4. Striped Curb Markings – are markings used in traffic islands
in order to warn the driver of the traffic island on the road
and aids the motorist to its traffic lane.
5. Painted Crosswalk – are placed at intersections and other
places where there is considerable pedestrians traffic to
provide pedestrians with safety zones when crossing.
6. Broken White Lines – is used to define or separate traffic lanes.
It permits crossing from one lane to another if there is ample
passing distance, and if the opposing lane is clear of traffic.
7. Solid White Line – is used to separate opposing streams of
traffic. Crossing is unlawful except where ample distance
exists and where the opposing traffic lane is clear of traffic.
8. Solid Yellow Line – is your driving lane prohibits you from
passing other vehicles.
9. Double Yellow Line – indicates two way traffic; were crossing
of pedestrian and motorist is not allowed. It separates the
opposing flow of traffic.
10.Broken Yellow Lines – is a two way/highway which means no
overtaking or passing is permitted only when the road
ahead is clear.
11.Stop Line – it indicates where stop should be made.
PD 96 - A law declaring unlawful the use or attachment of sirens,
bells, horns, Whistles or similar gadgets that emit exceptionally
loud or startling sounds, including dome lights and other signalling
or flashing devices on motor vehicles.(January 13, 1973)
Excemptions - Motor Vehicles designated for official use by the
1. AFP
2. NBI
3. LTO
4. PNP
5. BFP
6. Hospital Ambulances
Penalty
1. Confiscation - 1st offense
2. Imprisonment - 6 months and/or Fine. - 2nd and succeeding offenses.
3. Cancellation or Revocation or Certificate of Registration
PD 1911 - a law authorizing the disposal of of unclaimed recovered and
impounded carnapped motor vehicles.
This law provides that all carnapped or stolen motor vehicle,
recovered and impound by law enforcement agencies which after a
period of three (3) months from the date of its seizure/recovery
have remained unclaimed or whose real owners could no longer be
determined or established because the original numbers of the
motor engine or chassis numbers could no longer be determined and
restored, are considered as abandoned motor vehicles and shall be
sold and disposed of by the Chief PNP or his authorized
representative in a public auction.
In all cases before any public auction is effected, there shall
be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a
newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines or in the
place where it was recovered or found, a description of the motor
vehicles intended to be auctioned with a notice that after the
lapse of one month from the date of the last publication, should
no person file a claim for the recovery of the same, said motor
vehicles will be sold at public auction.
Pedestrian Crossing - is a place designated for pedestrians to cross
a road.
Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet - was a French engineer. He is widely
credited with establishing the first scientific approach to road building
about the year 1764. Proposed a method of construction relying on a
firm well-drained foundation of large rocks topped by progressively
smaller ones, forming a convex surface to make it more impervious to
water. He is sometimes considered the first person to bring post-Roman
science to road building.
Places Where Parking is Prohibited
1. Within an intersection
2. On a crosswalk
3. Within six meters of the intersection of curb lines.
4. Within four meters of the driveways entrance to any fire station.
5. Within four meters of a fire hydrant.
6. In front of a private driveway
7. On the roadway side of any vehicle stopped or parked at the curb
or edge of the highway.
8. At any place where official signs have been erected prohibiting
parking.
PNP Highway Patrol Group - is an operational support unit of the PNP
in charged of anti-carnapping, highway robbery and hi-jacking incidents.
Formerly called Traffic Management Group. Traffic Management in
Metro Manila is managed by the MMDA.
Professional Driver – shall mean every and any driver hired or paid
for driving or operating a motor vehicle, whether for private use or
for public.
Categories of Drivers
1. Tourist
2. International Driver
3. Government
4. Professional
5. Non-professional
6. Student Permit
RA 4136 - the Land Transportation and Traffic Code.
RA 6539 - Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972. An act preventing and
penalizing carnapping. (repealed by RA 10883)
Carnapping - is the taking, with intent to gain, of a motor
vehicle belonging to another without the latter's consent, or
by means of violence against or intimidation of persons, or by
using force upon things.
Road Intelligence – Unusual points of serious congestion must be noted.
Note and report unnecessary delay at stop signs or signals which are
installed when traffic is heavier. Note and report congestion that ties
up traffic for a block or more.
Skid Marks - are marks caused by tires on roads which occur when a
vehicle wheel stops rolling and slides or spins on the surface of
the road.
Importance of Skid Mark In Traffic Accident Investigation
- Skid marks can be analyzed to find the maximum and minimum
vehicle speed prior to an impact or incident.
Kinds of skid Marks
1. Pavement Grinding – is the collection of many fine scratches
and some larger one form by particles of gritty materials
such as stone, gravel, glass and sometimes bit of metal
embedding itself in the rubber of the tire or in the thread
pattern and being ground or scored against the road surface.
2. Tire Grinding – is the collection of particles of rubber
ground from the tire surface by gritty paving, especially
before the tire gets hot enough smear. It occur on hard,
dry, granular surfaces, particularly weathered or new but
not traffic-polished cement.
3. Erasing – is a clean light area where a sliding tire had
erased or removed dirt from the pavement. Erasing is most
likely to be found on traffic-polished concrete road.
4. Squeeze Mark – are areas where a sliding tie rubs moisture
of the surface in its path. It occurs on some kind of surface
as erasing except that the surface is wet.
5. Smear of Soft Material – materials such as snow, mud, or
debris usually wet smooth or spread by a sliding tire. It
occurs on road covered with snow, or mud.
6. Smear of Bituminous Material – is excess asphalt or tar,
usually warm which spread by a sliding tire this occurs in
pavement patches and joints in very warm weather and else
where when there is an excess of tar or asphalt bleeding to
the surface.
7. Tire Smear – is a rubber melted from the tire rather than
material melted from the road by a sliding tire.
8. Scrub of Tire during Collision – collision of cars usually
cause the wheel to jam and prevents it from turning. If the
vehicles are moving there will be a heavy scrubbing action
between tire and road surface.
9. Furrow – is a ploughed depression made by a sliding tire with
material piled-up on each sides and usually at the end. If
the soil is smooth and sticky, there may be soft material
smear in the bottom of the rut.
Types of Ending Skid Mark
1. Overlapping Skid mark – occurs when the rear wheels track on
top of the front wheel marks in sliding.
2. Front Wheel Marks – are in long skids on hard pavement with
bituminous binders. Front wheels skid marks in which most of
the mark is at edge of the tire.
3. Rear Tire Marks – are relatively faint because of lesser
weight on the tire in slowing. They may show thread grooves
when the front tire marks do not.
4. Flat Tire Scuffs – will leave marks by a scrubbing action
even without application of brakes due to overload.
5. Gaps in Skid marks – are interruptions in skid marks made by
release of brake pressure and its reapplication.
6. Skip Skid – are skid marks that are broken or interrupted
without brakes being release.
7. Curb in Skid marks – are usually gentle slides toward the
edge of the road which is simply downhill.
Sources of Power In Transportation
1. Man Power
2. Animal Power
3. Water and Air Power
4. Petroleum Fuel
5. Bi-fuel, bio gas, and Ethanol fuel
6. Hydrogen
7. Electric
Registration Classification of Vehicles
1. Private
2. For Hire
3. Government
4. Diplomatic
Scuff Marks – are signs left on the road by tires that are sliding or
scrubbing while the wheel is still turning.
Types of Scuff Marks
1. Decelerating Scuff – are left while the vehicle is slowing
by braking effort and tires are both sliding and rolling.
2. Accelerating Scuff – are left by a wheel driven by the
engine and spinning on the ground.
3. Side Scuff – are scuff marks left by a tire that is free to
rotate without braking or power the sliding sideways, these
are usually left by a vehicle steering around a curb and
also in collision.
4. Combination Scuff – are combination of slide with either
decelerating or accelerating scuffs.
5. Flat Tire Scuff – are marks lefts on the road by the edges
of under-inflated or greatly overloaded tires. They are
usually smear of rubber, a flat tire rolls it become a very
hot specially at the edges where the pressure is greatest.
6. Scrub of Tire – during collision it is much the same when
the wheel is rotating as when it is locked.
7. Furrows – by a rotating and sliding wheel are little different
than one with a locked wheel.
State of Necessity – there is state of necessity even if the injury
to a person results in his death, because self-preservation always
makes the actor feel that his own safety is greater than that of
another.
Elements or requisites under the law
1. the evil sought to avoided actually exists ;
2. the injury feared be greater that that done to avoid it;
3. that there is no other practical and less harmful means of
preventing it.
Thomas Telford - a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason,
and a noted road, bridge and canal builder. he was dubbed The Colossus
of Roads, and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering
in the early 19th century. He was elected as the first President of
the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Timeline - History of Transportation
3500 BC - Fixed wheels on carts are invented - the first wheeled
vehicles in history. Other early wheeled vehicles include the
chariot.
- River boats are invented - ships with oars
2000 BC - Horses are domesticated and used for transportation.
181-234 - The wheelbarrow is invented.
770 - Iron horse shoes improve transportation by horse.
1492 - Leonardo da Vinci first to seriously theorize about
flying machines - with over 100 drawings that illustrated his
theories on flight.
1620 - Cornelis Drebbel invented the first submarine - a human
oared submersible.
1662 - Blaise Pascal invents the first public bus - horse-drawn,
regular route, schedule, and fare system.
1740 - Jacques de Vaucanson demonstrates his clockwork powered
carriage.
1783 - First practical steam boat demonstrated by Marquis
Claude Francois de Jouffroy d'Abbans - a paddle wheel steamboat.
1783 - The Montgolfier brothers invent the first hot air balloons.
1787 - Steamboat invented.
1769 - First self-propelled road vehicle invented by Nicolas
Joseph Cugnot.
1790 - Modern bicycles invented.
1801 - Richard Trevithick invented the first steam powered
locomotive (designed for roads).
1807 Isaac de Rivas makes a hydrogen gas powered vehicle -
first with internal combustion power - however, it is an
unsuccessful design.
1807 - First steamboat with regular passenger service - inventor
Robert Fulton's Clermont.
1814 - George Stephenson invents the first practical steam
powered railroad locomotive.
1862 - Jean Lenoir makes a gasoline engine automobile.
1867 -First motorcycle invented.
1868 - George Westinghouse invents the compressed air locomotive
brake - enabled trains to be stopped with fail-safe accuracy.
1871 - First cable car invented.
1885 - Karl Benz builds the world's first practical automobile
to be powered by an internal combustion engine.
1899 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin invents the first successful
dirigible - the Zeppelin.
1903 - The Wright Brothers invent and fly the first engined
airplane.
1907 - Very first helicopter - unsuccessful design.
1908 - Henry Ford improves the assembly line for automobile
manufacturing.
1908 - Hydrofoil boats co-invented by Alexander Graham Bell &
Casey Baldwin - boats that skimmed water.
1926 - First liquid propelled rocket launched.
1940 - Modern helicopters invented.
1947 - First supersonic jet flight.
1956 - Hovercraft invented.
1964 - Bullet train transportation invented.
1969 - First manned mission (Apollo) to the Moon.
1970 - First jumbo jet.
1981 - Space shuttle launched.
Traffic – is a movement of vehicles along a route where passengers
and cargoes are carried by transportation.
Elements of street and highway traffic
1. The road user
2. The vehicle and its load
3. The road.
Police officers main functions in Traffic
1. Police traffic directions
2. Police traffic law enforcement
3. Police traffic accident investigation.
Traffic Accident - (traffic Collision) occurs when a vehicle collides
with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other
stationary obstruction, such as a tree or utility pole.
Elements of traffic accident
1. The vehicle involved
2. The highway
3. The road user.
Causes of Traffic Accident
1. Direct Causes – the direct causes of an accident are
observable by witness and participants, or may be constructed
from physical evidence found at the scene. Since a direct cause
relates to the action of the human part of the traffic unit
concerned it is a behavior cause. Usually only four direct
causes are considered in accident investigation;
a. Initial Behavior - Any movement, position, or failure
to signal intent to make a traffic maneuver that creates
a dangerous situation and is either hazardous, illegal,
improper, or unusual may be initial behavior of a nature
justly term a direct cause of an accident.
b. Speed – Too fast for conditions is the direct cause of
many accidents.
c. Delayed Perception – is inattention to the major task
of operating a motor vehicle, and occurs when the driver
is distracted by conversation with other occupants of
the car, lighting a cigarette or cigar, looking at a
roadway or the scenery, or glancing at occupants of
nearby vehicles.
d. Faulty Evasive Action – Faulty evasive action always
occurs after perception and is the reaction of a
driver or pedestrian to a hazardous situation on
the highway.
2. Mediate and Early Causes – These mediate and early causes of
an accident are also termed condition causes in formalized
accident investigation procedure. A mediate cause of an
accident occurs between the early and the direct causes in
the time span leading to the accident, but it has a closer
relationship to the direct cause than to the early causes.
A mediate cause should not be listed unless it explains the
direct cause of an accident. A mediate cause of an accident
is an irregular or unusual condition of a vehicle, the road,
the weather, or of a road user (driver or pedestrian) that
explains on of the four direct causes of an accident: initial
behavior, speed, delayed perception and faulty evasive action.
3. Early Causes - An early cause of an accident results from the
act of any individual, or the failure to act by any person,
which creates conditions leading to the chain of events
making up an accident.
Early cause of an accident - is an act or negligence on the
part of an individual or an organization which causes or
permits a mediate cause to exist.
Traffic Accident Analysis
1. Condition of the motor vehicles involved in the accident;
2. Condition of the drivers at the time of the accident;
3. Load of the vehicle;
4. Weather condition;
5. Characteristics of the road, which involves the design
condition, and inhabitants of the place of accident
6. Presence or absence of traffic sign and its condition.
All these factors must considered in order to fully uncover
the reasons of the accident, and thereby provide a factual
bases in coming-up with a traffic prevention program and
traffic plans and programs.
Key Events in a Traffic Accident
Key Event – means the one which characterizes the manner of
the occurrence of the traffic accident. It determines the
time, place, and type of accident.
1. Point of Possible Perception – is the place and time at which
the unusual or unexpected movement or condition could have
been perceive by a normal person.
2. Delay in Perception or Perception Time – it is the time
between the point of possible perception and actual
perception.
3. Prompt Perception – is the perception of hazard which is
actually nearly the possible accident.
4. Maximum Delayed Perception – occurred when the traffic unit
does not sense a hazard until he hits another vehicle.
5. Point of No Escape – is the place and time after or beyond
which the accident cannot be prevented by the traffic unit
under consideration.
6. Point of Impact – is used to mean as the point of initial
contact, sometimes it is considered the point of maximum
engagement or center of force.
7. Final Position – is the place and time when the object
involved in the accident finally come to rest without
application of power.
Traffic Actuated Signal – is controlled by an individual using his
hands in signaling the flow of traffic wherein traffic shall proceed
in accordance with the desire of the individual controlling the
flow of traffic.
Traffic Code - (also motor vehicle code) refers to the collection of
local statutes, regulations, ordinances and rules that have been
officially adopted by countries to govern the orderly operation and
interaction of motor vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians and others upon
the public (and sometimes private) ways.
Traffic Education – comprises all means for public information and the
safety education of both drivers and pedestrians as to traffic laws
and the use of traffic facilities and an adequate training programs in
traffic control throughout the police unit.
Traffic Engineering - is a branch of civil engineering that uses
engineering techniques to achieve the safe and efficient movement of
people and goods on roadways.
Functions of Traffic Engineering
1. Fact finding surveys and recommendation of traffic rules and
regulations.
2. Supervision and maintenance to the application of traffic
control devices.
3. Planning of traffic regulations.
Objectives of traffic Engineering
1. To achieve efficient, safe, free and rapid flow of traffic.
2. To prevent traffic accidents and casualties.
3. To present the role of traffic engineering in reducing the
needs for police action and simplifying police performance.
4. To show that good police action and performance makes
engineering plans effective.
Traffic Investigation - Objective
1. Securing facts upon which to base an accident prevention program;
2. Determining whether or not laws have been violated, gathering
evidence which will reveal the road user responsible for the
accident, and taking on-the-scene police action; and
3. Ascertaining the facts so that those involved in accidents can
properly exercise claims under our Civil Law.
Traffic Island - a small raised area in the middle of a road which
provides a safe place for pedestrians to stand and marks a division
between two opposing streams of traffic.
Kinds of Traffic Islands
1. Divisional and or Pedestrian Barrier
2. Channelizing Island
3. Refuge Island
4. Rotary Island
Traffic laws - are the laws which govern traffic and regulate vehicles, while rules of the road are both the laws and the informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate orderly and timely
flow of traffic.
Traffic Law Enforcement – comprises all police activities in connection with the direction of traffic, regulation and education of drivers, determining potential offenders, constant patrol, giving of assistance
in the prosecution of offenders, investigation of accidents, follow-up complaints, requesting police action, warning, summoning or arrest of violators, and reporting of road hazards and obstruction.
Traffic Enforcement Action
1. Detection
2. Apprehension
3. Prosecution
4. Adjudication
5. Penalization
Enforcement action is usual limited to:
1. Verbal or written warning;
2. Summon or citation requiring the offender to appear in court;
3. Arresting traffic violators for traffic violations not attended
4. Suspension or revocation of license;
5. Payment of fines or civil damages, and;
6. Prosecution of criminal offenses in relation to traffic.
Traffic lights - a set of automatically operated colored lights, typically red, amber, and green, for controlling traffic at road junctions, pedestrian crossings, and roundabouts.
Traffic Light Signals – is a power-operated traffic control device by which traffic is warned or directed to take some specific actions.
Light: Flashing Red
1. This is the same as STOP SIGN.
2. STOP at the designated line.
3. Vehicles will be crossing from the “other side”
4. Expect pedestrians to cross at the pedestrian lane.
5. PROCEED WHEN CLEAR.
Light: Flashing Yellow
1. This is the same as a YIELD SIGN.
2. Proceed through the intersection with caution.
3. You have the right of way over a flashing RED light.
4. Vehicles on the other side will proceed to a FULL STOP.
Light: Steady Green and Steady left/Right Arrow
1. Vehicles can go straight or vehicles on the left lane can make
a left turn.
2. Vehicles can go straight or vehicles on the right lane can make
a right turn.
3. The RIGHT GREEN signal might or might NOT have a road sign
disallowing a right turn while the RED lights is On
Traffic Management – it comprises all public surfaces, facilities, and agencies having responsibility for licensing, approving, maintaining, and controlling the flow of traffic and the use of traffic
facilities.
Traffic Patrol – Traffic patrol refers to the observation of road conditions, the behavior of the drivers and other users of vehicles for the purpose of traffic supervision and law enforcement
and providing authorized traffic-connected services to the public.
Purpose of Traffic Patrol
1. Deterrent to violations and dangerous driving.
2. Detecting and apprehending violators.
3. Observing and reporting traffic conditions.
4. Observing and reporting road conditions, including view
obstruction which needs attention.
5. Providing certain services to the public.
Types/Kinds of Traffic Patrol
1. Line Patrol – Conducts observation either in moving or
stationary observation at a certain route or point of a major
street in a city.
2. Area Patrol – Conduct observation either by moving patrol or
stationary observation in a certain area, which included a
number of streets roads or sections of a highway.
3. Stationary Observation – Observation of traffic conditions
of a selected place, usually one with unfavorable accident
experiences for traffic law supervision. Stationary observation
may be conspicuous, visible or concealed, depending upon the
location of the patrol unit in relation to the street under
observation.
4. Conspicuous Observation – Stationary observation in which
the observer remains in full review of traffic conditions.
5. Visible Observation – Stationary observation in which observer
is full view but so located, for example, at Side Street, so
as to require effort on the part of traffic users to discover
the observer.
6. Concealed Observation – Stationary observation in which the
observer is not visible to persons using ordinary power of
observation form the roadway being observed.
Traffic Signs – a device mounted on a fixed or portable means of words or symbols, officially created and installed for the purpose of regulating, warning, and guiding traffic.
Types of Traffic Signs
1. Regulatory Signs - are intended to inform road-users of
special obligations, instructions or prohibitions which must
comply. A round shape is used for regulatory signs with
exception of stop and yield signs.
2. Warning Signs - are intended to warn road-users of danger on
the road and to inform them of its nature. These signs have
an equilateral triangular shape with one side horizontal.
3. Guide or Informative Signs - are intended to guide road-users
while they are traveling or to provide them with other useful
information.
Types of Guide Signs
1. Route markings – is usually found on highways composed of
several lanes which are going into different direction.
2. Destination and distance signs – is usually erected on
highway informing the motorist as to the number of kilometers
and at which way to take going to its place of destination.
3. Information signs – is usually erected on highway which
informs the motorist of the establishments in the era, such
hospitals, restaurants, restrooms, hotels, and other
establishments which provide services to motorist.
Transfer Evidence – it is an evidence found at the accident scene that will connect to the suspected vehicle and with the crime scene.
Related Readings:
1. Law Enforcement Administration Sample Questions
2. Sociology of Crimes Sample Questions
1. performance of a lawful act
2. with due care
3. causes injury to another by mere accident
4. without any fault or intention of causing it
Articulated Vehicle - shall mean any motor vehicle with a trailer having no front axle and so attached that part of the trailer rest upon the motor vehicle and a substantial part of the weight of the trailer and of its load is born by the motor vehicle.
Benz Patent-Motorwagen - (motorcar) built in 1886, is widely regarded as the first automobile. It is a vehicle designed to be propelled by an internal combustion engine.
Box Junction - is a road traffic control measure designed to prevent
congestion and gridlock at junctions. A road area at a junction marked
with a yellow grid, which a vehicle should enter only if its exit from
it is clear. Box junctions were introduced in UK during 1967,
following a successful trial in London.
Chain of Events – is the making up of accident or the link which
explains the occurrence of the accident and its components are present
in every accident.
Perception of hazard – is the point of sensory warning at
which the operator sensed the approaching hazard. The driver
may not comprehend or recognized the hazard in all of its
implications at this point of perception, but there was a
warning. The normal routine is perception, realization, or
recognition, decision, and action.
Possible Perception - is a link in the accident chain dealing
with the reaction of a normal person. Prompt perception occurs
when possible and actual perception are very close. Maximum
delayed perception occurs when actual perception is delayed
until impact shock alerts the driver..
Encroachment – is the movement of a vehicle into the path
assigned to the other traffic unit.
Evasive Action – is the first action taken by a traffic unit
to escape from a collision course or otherwise avoid the hazard.
Point of no escape – is that location and that time after or
beyond which an accident cannot be prevented by the driver or
pedestrian.
Initial Contact – it is the first accidental touching of an
object collided with by a traffic unit in motion.
Maximum Engagement – is the greatest collapse or overlap in a
collision.
Disengagement – is the separation of a traffic unit in motion
from an object with which it has collided.
Final Rest of Stopping – it usually stabilizes the accident
situation where both vehicles in a collision has ceases its
force, and stopping may occur with or without control by the
driver or pedestrian.
Classification of Road
1. National Road
2. Provincial Road
3. City Road
4. Municipal Road
5. Barangay Road
6. Private Road
Compressed Air Car - is an alternative fuel car that uses a motor
powered by compressed air. The car can be powered solely by air, or
by air combined (as in a hybrid electric vehicle) with gasoline,diesel,
ethanol, or electric plant.
Crosswalks - are designed to keep pedestrians together where they can
be seen by motorists, and where they can cross most safely across the
flow of vehicular traffic.
Defensive Driving – is an act of driving while preventing accidents
despite of the wrong actions of others aggravated by the existence
of adverse driving conditions. Which requires knowledge, alertness,
foresight, judgment and skill.
Ferdinand Verbiest - a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the
first steam-powered vehicle around 1672 which was of small scale and
designed as a toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry
a driver or a passenger, but quite possibly, was the first working
steam-powered vehicle.
Force Majure – is an inevitable accident or casualty, an accident
produced by any physical cause which is irresistible. In other words
it is an Act of Man, such robbery, fire, fault, negligence,
rebellion, etc.
Fortuitous Event – an event which takes place by accident and could
not have been foreseen. In other words it is an Act of God which
could neither be foreseen nor resisted, such as earthquake,
lightning, flood, and the like.
Francois Isaac de Rivaz - A French and Swiss national who invented a
hydrogen powered internal combustion engine with electric ignition and
described it in a French patent published in 1807. In 1808 he fitted
it into a primitive working vehicle the world's first internal combustion
powered automobile.
Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle - FCHV was developed by Toyota in 2005. The
vehicle is powered by the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen
to power the motor driving the vehicle.
Geneva Convention on Road Traffic - September 19, 1949. Promotes the
development and safety of international road traffic by establishing
certain uniform rules.
Gottlieb Daimler - He invented the high-speed petrol engine.He is
also thought to have invented the first real motorcycle in 1885.
Gustave Trouve - In November 1881, Trouvé demonstrated a working
three-wheeled electric automobile at the International Exhibition of
Electricity in Paris.
Hit-and-run - is the act of causing (or contributing to) a traffic
accident (such as colliding with a person or a fixture), and failing
to stop and identify oneself afterwards. It is considered a crime in
most jurisdictions.
Characteristics of Hit-and Run Drivers
1. After living the scene, he dreads or frighten of being caught.
2. He may have left the accident scene because he was shocked,
injured, or intoxicated.
3. He may have been too confused to know he was doing.
4. He may have a long record of violations or accidents and
therefore a terrible fear of getting further involve with
the law.
5. More often, he fears financial loss specially if he does not
have liability insurance.
6. Hit-and run drivers do not have a establish method of
operation unlike criminals.
Imprudence – indicates deficiency of action. If a person fails to
take the necessary precaution to avoid injury to a person or damage
to property, there is imprudence. Imprudence usually involves lack
of skill.
Ivan Kulibin - a Russian mechanic and inventor, he developed in 1971
a human-pedalled, three-wheeled carriage with modern features such as
a flywheel, brake, gear box, and bearings.
Karl Friedrich Benz - was a German engine designer and car engineer,
generally regarded as the inventor of the first automobile powered by
an internal combustion engine, and together with Bertha Benz,
pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz.
Last Clear Chance - it means that the driver who is in the better
position to prevent the accident shoulders the responsibility of
preventing the accident. The last clear chance principle is always
applied in any traffic accidental investigation in order to justify
penalized the driver who was not defensive in its driving.
Lester Wire - a policeman in Salt Lake City, Utah. He developed the
first electric traffic light in 1912 which used red-green.
Macadam - is a type of road construction pioneered by Scottish engineer
John Loudon McAdam around 1820. The method simplified what had been
considered state of the art at that point. Single-sized aggregate layers
of small stones, with a coating of binder as a cementing agent, are
mixed in an open-structured roadway.
Mesopotamia - (Present Iraq) location of the oldest constructed roads
discovered to date. The stoned paved streets date back to about 4000 BC,
in the Mesopotamia cities of Ur and Babylon.
Milestone - The earliest road signs, giving distance or direction.
milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road
or boundary at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile.
They are typically located at the side of the road or in a median.
Motor Car Act 1903 - introduced registration of motor cars and
licensing of drivers in the United Kingdom and increased the
speed limit.
Motor Vehicle – shall mean any vehicle propelled by any power other
than muscular power using the public highways, but exempting road
rollers, trolley cars, street sweepers, bulldozers, graders,
fork-lifts, cranes, vehicles which runs only on rails or tracks,
tractors, trailers, and traction engine.
Negligence – indicates a deficiency of perception. If a person fails
to pay proper attention to use due diligence in foreseeing the injury
or damage impending to be caused there in negligence. Negligence
usually involves lack of skill.
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot - was a French inventor. He is known to have
built the first working self-propelled mechanical vehicle, the
world's first automobile.
Nikolaus August Otto - the German inventor of the first
internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a
piston chamber.
Paris - in 1964, first time that police women were used for traffic
control duties.
Pavement Markings – are markings on the roads and surfaces whereby a
message is conveyed by means of words or symbols, officially reflected
for the purpose of regulating, warning and guiding traffic.
May Indicate a Number of Things like
1. Where lanes are divided
2. Where you may pass other vehicles
3. Where you may change lanes or which lane to use for turns
4. Where pedestrian walkways are located
5. Where you may stop for traffic signs and traffic signals
Types of Pavement Markings
1. Curve Markings – are used to show where parking is legally
prohibited or not allowed, such Bus Stop, or in front of a
fire hydrant, drive way.
2. Object Markings – are painted on fixed poles, and on vertical
ends of bridges and ports to avoid accidents.
3. Reflectorized Markings – are used to mark hazardous areas
and also used as delineators or road limits, these delineators
are aids especially during night driving, particularly when
the alignment of a road changes and might confused the
operator of the vehicle.
4. Striped Curb Markings – are markings used in traffic islands
in order to warn the driver of the traffic island on the road
and aids the motorist to its traffic lane.
5. Painted Crosswalk – are placed at intersections and other
places where there is considerable pedestrians traffic to
provide pedestrians with safety zones when crossing.
6. Broken White Lines – is used to define or separate traffic lanes.
It permits crossing from one lane to another if there is ample
passing distance, and if the opposing lane is clear of traffic.
7. Solid White Line – is used to separate opposing streams of
traffic. Crossing is unlawful except where ample distance
exists and where the opposing traffic lane is clear of traffic.
8. Solid Yellow Line – is your driving lane prohibits you from
passing other vehicles.
9. Double Yellow Line – indicates two way traffic; were crossing
of pedestrian and motorist is not allowed. It separates the
opposing flow of traffic.
10.Broken Yellow Lines – is a two way/highway which means no
overtaking or passing is permitted only when the road
ahead is clear.
11.Stop Line – it indicates where stop should be made.
PD 96 - A law declaring unlawful the use or attachment of sirens,
bells, horns, Whistles or similar gadgets that emit exceptionally
loud or startling sounds, including dome lights and other signalling
or flashing devices on motor vehicles.(January 13, 1973)
Excemptions - Motor Vehicles designated for official use by the
1. AFP
2. NBI
3. LTO
4. PNP
5. BFP
6. Hospital Ambulances
Penalty
1. Confiscation - 1st offense
2. Imprisonment - 6 months and/or Fine. - 2nd and succeeding offenses.
3. Cancellation or Revocation or Certificate of Registration
PD 1911 - a law authorizing the disposal of of unclaimed recovered and
impounded carnapped motor vehicles.
This law provides that all carnapped or stolen motor vehicle,
recovered and impound by law enforcement agencies which after a
period of three (3) months from the date of its seizure/recovery
have remained unclaimed or whose real owners could no longer be
determined or established because the original numbers of the
motor engine or chassis numbers could no longer be determined and
restored, are considered as abandoned motor vehicles and shall be
sold and disposed of by the Chief PNP or his authorized
representative in a public auction.
In all cases before any public auction is effected, there shall
be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a
newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines or in the
place where it was recovered or found, a description of the motor
vehicles intended to be auctioned with a notice that after the
lapse of one month from the date of the last publication, should
no person file a claim for the recovery of the same, said motor
vehicles will be sold at public auction.
Pedestrian Crossing - is a place designated for pedestrians to cross
a road.
Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet - was a French engineer. He is widely
credited with establishing the first scientific approach to road building
about the year 1764. Proposed a method of construction relying on a
firm well-drained foundation of large rocks topped by progressively
smaller ones, forming a convex surface to make it more impervious to
water. He is sometimes considered the first person to bring post-Roman
science to road building.
Places Where Parking is Prohibited
1. Within an intersection
2. On a crosswalk
3. Within six meters of the intersection of curb lines.
4. Within four meters of the driveways entrance to any fire station.
5. Within four meters of a fire hydrant.
6. In front of a private driveway
7. On the roadway side of any vehicle stopped or parked at the curb
or edge of the highway.
8. At any place where official signs have been erected prohibiting
parking.
PNP Highway Patrol Group - is an operational support unit of the PNP
in charged of anti-carnapping, highway robbery and hi-jacking incidents.
Formerly called Traffic Management Group. Traffic Management in
Metro Manila is managed by the MMDA.
Professional Driver – shall mean every and any driver hired or paid
for driving or operating a motor vehicle, whether for private use or
for public.
Categories of Drivers
1. Tourist
2. International Driver
3. Government
4. Professional
5. Non-professional
6. Student Permit
RA 4136 - the Land Transportation and Traffic Code.
RA 6539 - Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972. An act preventing and
penalizing carnapping. (repealed by RA 10883)
Carnapping - is the taking, with intent to gain, of a motor
vehicle belonging to another without the latter's consent, or
by means of violence against or intimidation of persons, or by
using force upon things.
Road Intelligence – Unusual points of serious congestion must be noted.
Note and report unnecessary delay at stop signs or signals which are
installed when traffic is heavier. Note and report congestion that ties
up traffic for a block or more.
Skid Marks - are marks caused by tires on roads which occur when a
vehicle wheel stops rolling and slides or spins on the surface of
the road.
Importance of Skid Mark In Traffic Accident Investigation
- Skid marks can be analyzed to find the maximum and minimum
vehicle speed prior to an impact or incident.
Kinds of skid Marks
1. Pavement Grinding – is the collection of many fine scratches
and some larger one form by particles of gritty materials
such as stone, gravel, glass and sometimes bit of metal
embedding itself in the rubber of the tire or in the thread
pattern and being ground or scored against the road surface.
2. Tire Grinding – is the collection of particles of rubber
ground from the tire surface by gritty paving, especially
before the tire gets hot enough smear. It occur on hard,
dry, granular surfaces, particularly weathered or new but
not traffic-polished cement.
3. Erasing – is a clean light area where a sliding tire had
erased or removed dirt from the pavement. Erasing is most
likely to be found on traffic-polished concrete road.
4. Squeeze Mark – are areas where a sliding tie rubs moisture
of the surface in its path. It occurs on some kind of surface
as erasing except that the surface is wet.
5. Smear of Soft Material – materials such as snow, mud, or
debris usually wet smooth or spread by a sliding tire. It
occurs on road covered with snow, or mud.
6. Smear of Bituminous Material – is excess asphalt or tar,
usually warm which spread by a sliding tire this occurs in
pavement patches and joints in very warm weather and else
where when there is an excess of tar or asphalt bleeding to
the surface.
7. Tire Smear – is a rubber melted from the tire rather than
material melted from the road by a sliding tire.
8. Scrub of Tire during Collision – collision of cars usually
cause the wheel to jam and prevents it from turning. If the
vehicles are moving there will be a heavy scrubbing action
between tire and road surface.
9. Furrow – is a ploughed depression made by a sliding tire with
material piled-up on each sides and usually at the end. If
the soil is smooth and sticky, there may be soft material
smear in the bottom of the rut.
Types of Ending Skid Mark
1. Overlapping Skid mark – occurs when the rear wheels track on
top of the front wheel marks in sliding.
2. Front Wheel Marks – are in long skids on hard pavement with
bituminous binders. Front wheels skid marks in which most of
the mark is at edge of the tire.
3. Rear Tire Marks – are relatively faint because of lesser
weight on the tire in slowing. They may show thread grooves
when the front tire marks do not.
4. Flat Tire Scuffs – will leave marks by a scrubbing action
even without application of brakes due to overload.
5. Gaps in Skid marks – are interruptions in skid marks made by
release of brake pressure and its reapplication.
6. Skip Skid – are skid marks that are broken or interrupted
without brakes being release.
7. Curb in Skid marks – are usually gentle slides toward the
edge of the road which is simply downhill.
Sources of Power In Transportation
1. Man Power
2. Animal Power
3. Water and Air Power
4. Petroleum Fuel
5. Bi-fuel, bio gas, and Ethanol fuel
6. Hydrogen
7. Electric
Registration Classification of Vehicles
1. Private
2. For Hire
3. Government
4. Diplomatic
Scuff Marks – are signs left on the road by tires that are sliding or
scrubbing while the wheel is still turning.
Types of Scuff Marks
1. Decelerating Scuff – are left while the vehicle is slowing
by braking effort and tires are both sliding and rolling.
2. Accelerating Scuff – are left by a wheel driven by the
engine and spinning on the ground.
3. Side Scuff – are scuff marks left by a tire that is free to
rotate without braking or power the sliding sideways, these
are usually left by a vehicle steering around a curb and
also in collision.
4. Combination Scuff – are combination of slide with either
decelerating or accelerating scuffs.
5. Flat Tire Scuff – are marks lefts on the road by the edges
of under-inflated or greatly overloaded tires. They are
usually smear of rubber, a flat tire rolls it become a very
hot specially at the edges where the pressure is greatest.
6. Scrub of Tire – during collision it is much the same when
the wheel is rotating as when it is locked.
7. Furrows – by a rotating and sliding wheel are little different
than one with a locked wheel.
State of Necessity – there is state of necessity even if the injury
to a person results in his death, because self-preservation always
makes the actor feel that his own safety is greater than that of
another.
Elements or requisites under the law
1. the evil sought to avoided actually exists ;
2. the injury feared be greater that that done to avoid it;
3. that there is no other practical and less harmful means of
preventing it.
Thomas Telford - a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason,
and a noted road, bridge and canal builder. he was dubbed The Colossus
of Roads, and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering
in the early 19th century. He was elected as the first President of
the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Timeline - History of Transportation
3500 BC - Fixed wheels on carts are invented - the first wheeled
vehicles in history. Other early wheeled vehicles include the
chariot.
- River boats are invented - ships with oars
2000 BC - Horses are domesticated and used for transportation.
181-234 - The wheelbarrow is invented.
770 - Iron horse shoes improve transportation by horse.
1492 - Leonardo da Vinci first to seriously theorize about
flying machines - with over 100 drawings that illustrated his
theories on flight.
1620 - Cornelis Drebbel invented the first submarine - a human
oared submersible.
1662 - Blaise Pascal invents the first public bus - horse-drawn,
regular route, schedule, and fare system.
1740 - Jacques de Vaucanson demonstrates his clockwork powered
carriage.
1783 - First practical steam boat demonstrated by Marquis
Claude Francois de Jouffroy d'Abbans - a paddle wheel steamboat.
1783 - The Montgolfier brothers invent the first hot air balloons.
1787 - Steamboat invented.
1769 - First self-propelled road vehicle invented by Nicolas
Joseph Cugnot.
1790 - Modern bicycles invented.
1801 - Richard Trevithick invented the first steam powered
locomotive (designed for roads).
1807 Isaac de Rivas makes a hydrogen gas powered vehicle -
first with internal combustion power - however, it is an
unsuccessful design.
1807 - First steamboat with regular passenger service - inventor
Robert Fulton's Clermont.
1814 - George Stephenson invents the first practical steam
powered railroad locomotive.
1862 - Jean Lenoir makes a gasoline engine automobile.
1867 -First motorcycle invented.
1868 - George Westinghouse invents the compressed air locomotive
brake - enabled trains to be stopped with fail-safe accuracy.
1871 - First cable car invented.
1885 - Karl Benz builds the world's first practical automobile
to be powered by an internal combustion engine.
1899 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin invents the first successful
dirigible - the Zeppelin.
1903 - The Wright Brothers invent and fly the first engined
airplane.
1907 - Very first helicopter - unsuccessful design.
1908 - Henry Ford improves the assembly line for automobile
manufacturing.
1908 - Hydrofoil boats co-invented by Alexander Graham Bell &
Casey Baldwin - boats that skimmed water.
1926 - First liquid propelled rocket launched.
1940 - Modern helicopters invented.
1947 - First supersonic jet flight.
1956 - Hovercraft invented.
1964 - Bullet train transportation invented.
1969 - First manned mission (Apollo) to the Moon.
1970 - First jumbo jet.
1981 - Space shuttle launched.
Traffic – is a movement of vehicles along a route where passengers
and cargoes are carried by transportation.
Elements of street and highway traffic
1. The road user
2. The vehicle and its load
3. The road.
Police officers main functions in Traffic
1. Police traffic directions
2. Police traffic law enforcement
3. Police traffic accident investigation.
Traffic Accident - (traffic Collision) occurs when a vehicle collides
with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other
stationary obstruction, such as a tree or utility pole.
Elements of traffic accident
1. The vehicle involved
2. The highway
3. The road user.
Causes of Traffic Accident
1. Direct Causes – the direct causes of an accident are
observable by witness and participants, or may be constructed
from physical evidence found at the scene. Since a direct cause
relates to the action of the human part of the traffic unit
concerned it is a behavior cause. Usually only four direct
causes are considered in accident investigation;
a. Initial Behavior - Any movement, position, or failure
to signal intent to make a traffic maneuver that creates
a dangerous situation and is either hazardous, illegal,
improper, or unusual may be initial behavior of a nature
justly term a direct cause of an accident.
b. Speed – Too fast for conditions is the direct cause of
many accidents.
c. Delayed Perception – is inattention to the major task
of operating a motor vehicle, and occurs when the driver
is distracted by conversation with other occupants of
the car, lighting a cigarette or cigar, looking at a
roadway or the scenery, or glancing at occupants of
nearby vehicles.
d. Faulty Evasive Action – Faulty evasive action always
occurs after perception and is the reaction of a
driver or pedestrian to a hazardous situation on
the highway.
2. Mediate and Early Causes – These mediate and early causes of
an accident are also termed condition causes in formalized
accident investigation procedure. A mediate cause of an
accident occurs between the early and the direct causes in
the time span leading to the accident, but it has a closer
relationship to the direct cause than to the early causes.
A mediate cause should not be listed unless it explains the
direct cause of an accident. A mediate cause of an accident
is an irregular or unusual condition of a vehicle, the road,
the weather, or of a road user (driver or pedestrian) that
explains on of the four direct causes of an accident: initial
behavior, speed, delayed perception and faulty evasive action.
3. Early Causes - An early cause of an accident results from the
act of any individual, or the failure to act by any person,
which creates conditions leading to the chain of events
making up an accident.
Early cause of an accident - is an act or negligence on the
part of an individual or an organization which causes or
permits a mediate cause to exist.
Traffic Accident Analysis
1. Condition of the motor vehicles involved in the accident;
2. Condition of the drivers at the time of the accident;
3. Load of the vehicle;
4. Weather condition;
5. Characteristics of the road, which involves the design
condition, and inhabitants of the place of accident
6. Presence or absence of traffic sign and its condition.
All these factors must considered in order to fully uncover
the reasons of the accident, and thereby provide a factual
bases in coming-up with a traffic prevention program and
traffic plans and programs.
Key Events in a Traffic Accident
Key Event – means the one which characterizes the manner of
the occurrence of the traffic accident. It determines the
time, place, and type of accident.
1. Point of Possible Perception – is the place and time at which
the unusual or unexpected movement or condition could have
been perceive by a normal person.
2. Delay in Perception or Perception Time – it is the time
between the point of possible perception and actual
perception.
3. Prompt Perception – is the perception of hazard which is
actually nearly the possible accident.
4. Maximum Delayed Perception – occurred when the traffic unit
does not sense a hazard until he hits another vehicle.
5. Point of No Escape – is the place and time after or beyond
which the accident cannot be prevented by the traffic unit
under consideration.
6. Point of Impact – is used to mean as the point of initial
contact, sometimes it is considered the point of maximum
engagement or center of force.
7. Final Position – is the place and time when the object
involved in the accident finally come to rest without
application of power.
Traffic Actuated Signal – is controlled by an individual using his
hands in signaling the flow of traffic wherein traffic shall proceed
in accordance with the desire of the individual controlling the
flow of traffic.
Traffic Code - (also motor vehicle code) refers to the collection of
local statutes, regulations, ordinances and rules that have been
officially adopted by countries to govern the orderly operation and
interaction of motor vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians and others upon
the public (and sometimes private) ways.
Traffic Education – comprises all means for public information and the
safety education of both drivers and pedestrians as to traffic laws
and the use of traffic facilities and an adequate training programs in
traffic control throughout the police unit.
Traffic Engineering - is a branch of civil engineering that uses
engineering techniques to achieve the safe and efficient movement of
people and goods on roadways.
Functions of Traffic Engineering
1. Fact finding surveys and recommendation of traffic rules and
regulations.
2. Supervision and maintenance to the application of traffic
control devices.
3. Planning of traffic regulations.
Objectives of traffic Engineering
1. To achieve efficient, safe, free and rapid flow of traffic.
2. To prevent traffic accidents and casualties.
3. To present the role of traffic engineering in reducing the
needs for police action and simplifying police performance.
4. To show that good police action and performance makes
engineering plans effective.
Traffic Investigation - Objective
1. Securing facts upon which to base an accident prevention program;
2. Determining whether or not laws have been violated, gathering
evidence which will reveal the road user responsible for the
accident, and taking on-the-scene police action; and
3. Ascertaining the facts so that those involved in accidents can
properly exercise claims under our Civil Law.
Traffic Island - a small raised area in the middle of a road which
provides a safe place for pedestrians to stand and marks a division
between two opposing streams of traffic.
Kinds of Traffic Islands
1. Divisional and or Pedestrian Barrier
2. Channelizing Island
3. Refuge Island
4. Rotary Island
Traffic laws - are the laws which govern traffic and regulate vehicles, while rules of the road are both the laws and the informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate orderly and timely
flow of traffic.
Traffic Law Enforcement – comprises all police activities in connection with the direction of traffic, regulation and education of drivers, determining potential offenders, constant patrol, giving of assistance
in the prosecution of offenders, investigation of accidents, follow-up complaints, requesting police action, warning, summoning or arrest of violators, and reporting of road hazards and obstruction.
Traffic Enforcement Action
1. Detection
2. Apprehension
3. Prosecution
4. Adjudication
5. Penalization
Enforcement action is usual limited to:
1. Verbal or written warning;
2. Summon or citation requiring the offender to appear in court;
3. Arresting traffic violators for traffic violations not attended
4. Suspension or revocation of license;
5. Payment of fines or civil damages, and;
6. Prosecution of criminal offenses in relation to traffic.
Traffic lights - a set of automatically operated colored lights, typically red, amber, and green, for controlling traffic at road junctions, pedestrian crossings, and roundabouts.
Traffic Light Signals – is a power-operated traffic control device by which traffic is warned or directed to take some specific actions.
Light: Flashing Red
1. This is the same as STOP SIGN.
2. STOP at the designated line.
3. Vehicles will be crossing from the “other side”
4. Expect pedestrians to cross at the pedestrian lane.
5. PROCEED WHEN CLEAR.
Light: Flashing Yellow
1. This is the same as a YIELD SIGN.
2. Proceed through the intersection with caution.
3. You have the right of way over a flashing RED light.
4. Vehicles on the other side will proceed to a FULL STOP.
Light: Steady Green and Steady left/Right Arrow
1. Vehicles can go straight or vehicles on the left lane can make
a left turn.
2. Vehicles can go straight or vehicles on the right lane can make
a right turn.
3. The RIGHT GREEN signal might or might NOT have a road sign
disallowing a right turn while the RED lights is On
Traffic Management – it comprises all public surfaces, facilities, and agencies having responsibility for licensing, approving, maintaining, and controlling the flow of traffic and the use of traffic
facilities.
Traffic Patrol – Traffic patrol refers to the observation of road conditions, the behavior of the drivers and other users of vehicles for the purpose of traffic supervision and law enforcement
and providing authorized traffic-connected services to the public.
Purpose of Traffic Patrol
1. Deterrent to violations and dangerous driving.
2. Detecting and apprehending violators.
3. Observing and reporting traffic conditions.
4. Observing and reporting road conditions, including view
obstruction which needs attention.
5. Providing certain services to the public.
Types/Kinds of Traffic Patrol
1. Line Patrol – Conducts observation either in moving or
stationary observation at a certain route or point of a major
street in a city.
2. Area Patrol – Conduct observation either by moving patrol or
stationary observation in a certain area, which included a
number of streets roads or sections of a highway.
3. Stationary Observation – Observation of traffic conditions
of a selected place, usually one with unfavorable accident
experiences for traffic law supervision. Stationary observation
may be conspicuous, visible or concealed, depending upon the
location of the patrol unit in relation to the street under
observation.
4. Conspicuous Observation – Stationary observation in which
the observer remains in full review of traffic conditions.
5. Visible Observation – Stationary observation in which observer
is full view but so located, for example, at Side Street, so
as to require effort on the part of traffic users to discover
the observer.
6. Concealed Observation – Stationary observation in which the
observer is not visible to persons using ordinary power of
observation form the roadway being observed.
Traffic Signs – a device mounted on a fixed or portable means of words or symbols, officially created and installed for the purpose of regulating, warning, and guiding traffic.
Types of Traffic Signs
1. Regulatory Signs - are intended to inform road-users of
special obligations, instructions or prohibitions which must
comply. A round shape is used for regulatory signs with
exception of stop and yield signs.
2. Warning Signs - are intended to warn road-users of danger on
the road and to inform them of its nature. These signs have
an equilateral triangular shape with one side horizontal.
3. Guide or Informative Signs - are intended to guide road-users
while they are traveling or to provide them with other useful
information.
Types of Guide Signs
1. Route markings – is usually found on highways composed of
several lanes which are going into different direction.
2. Destination and distance signs – is usually erected on
highway informing the motorist as to the number of kilometers
and at which way to take going to its place of destination.
3. Information signs – is usually erected on highway which
informs the motorist of the establishments in the era, such
hospitals, restaurants, restrooms, hotels, and other
establishments which provide services to motorist.
Transfer Evidence – it is an evidence found at the accident scene that will connect to the suspected vehicle and with the crime scene.
Related Readings:
1. Law Enforcement Administration Sample Questions
2. Sociology of Crimes Sample Questions
Bigwas
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