I was sitting and watching people walk back and forth at an accident site while recording some measurements I had taken earlier. The walk included stepping up and down at a change in level. It was a hot day and good reason to sit in the shade and do this. It came to me how valuable this was: Just sitting and looking and thinking. A real soft, empirical forensic technique.

I’ve done this before during a forensic investigation – look at something unfold – but it was during a re-enactment of an accident. This simple looking and thinking was different. It was natural not a re-enactment. It also was repetitious – happening over and over and over. It really helped me think through how the accident happened.

It occurred to me as I was doing this that it would be helpful to have a drone hovering above capturing the look from that angle. For that matter maybe several drones at different angles and elevations. But then that simple sit, look and think element would be gone. The walkers would get self conscious about being looked at and it would no longer be natural but more like a re-enactment.

I’ve done something similar during re-enactments of accidents in the pre-drone era – several repetitions – but the naturalness was missing. It doesn’t compare to watching one or two dozen walkers go back and forth.

Getting back to the sit, look and think experience, I didn’t even make notes in my field book, I just soaked up the scene as it unfolded before my eyes.

I’ve not seen a forensic technique like this in the manuals. Sitting in the shade watching people go back and forth. It was valuable but also relaxing. Should I have booked my time against the investigation – sitting, looking and thinking? Hmmm.

(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer, Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 28, 2023. ejorden@eastlink.ca)