Physics 3310: What's Stopping You NOW??? [CSI: A Real Accident Scenario]
Introduction
Well, an unfortunate incident occurred at Penn State on April 25th 2010. According to The Daily Collegian Online, "Penn State student Kevin Ignatuk, 21, is in critical condition after being hit by a police cruiser earlier today, authorities say. Though his roommate said Ignatuk didn't see the car coming, police said he "darted" into the road.
Ignatuk's roommate Ben Cuddy (junior-kinesiology) said he was with Ignatuk when he stepped into the street in front of an oncoming police SUV outside their Beaver Terrace apartment, 456 E. Beaver Ave, according to a State College Police Department press release... Ignatuk appeared to have not seen the oncoming vehicle before it hit him, Cuddy said. Police say Ignatuk "darted from the sidewalk" when a police SUV hit him at about 1:42 a.m. today on the 400 block of East Beaver Avenue."
There were also rumors that the marked police SUV had been speeding at 35 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Take a look at the following news clips by clicking the links below and write down all the facts that may be helpful to you with this investigation.
http://www.wjactv.com/news/23260113/detail.html
http://www.wjactv.com/news/23267978/detail.html
As crime scene investigators your job is to understand and figure out what are the relationships between the speed and the stopping distance of a moving vehicle and the stopping distance and the coefficient of static friction between the tires and the road. Then you must come to a conclusion if the police officer could have avoided the unfortunate accident if the police SUV were traveling at a proper speed when taken into a consideration of all the given conditions.
Ignatuk's roommate Ben Cuddy (junior-kinesiology) said he was with Ignatuk when he stepped into the street in front of an oncoming police SUV outside their Beaver Terrace apartment, 456 E. Beaver Ave, according to a State College Police Department press release... Ignatuk appeared to have not seen the oncoming vehicle before it hit him, Cuddy said. Police say Ignatuk "darted from the sidewalk" when a police SUV hit him at about 1:42 a.m. today on the 400 block of East Beaver Avenue."
There were also rumors that the marked police SUV had been speeding at 35 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Take a look at the following news clips by clicking the links below and write down all the facts that may be helpful to you with this investigation.
http://www.wjactv.com/news/23260113/detail.html
http://www.wjactv.com/news/23267978/detail.html
As crime scene investigators your job is to understand and figure out what are the relationships between the speed and the stopping distance of a moving vehicle and the stopping distance and the coefficient of static friction between the tires and the road. Then you must come to a conclusion if the police officer could have avoided the unfortunate accident if the police SUV were traveling at a proper speed when taken into a consideration of all the given conditions.
