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Forensics Students Participate in Crash Reconstruction Course
By Jonathan Nicastro, Director, Motor Carrier Compliance Program, New York State Department of Transportation
I recently taught a course to my daughter, Kate, and her classmates, who are students in a forensics course at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset, New York. The course gave the students a taste of crash reconstruction. I concentrated the classroom lecture on identifying and recognizing the various types of skid marks and applying a formula to compute vehicle speeds.
Additionally, I delivered a teen driving safety program by utilizing materials CVSA provides within the Operation Safe Driver program. I also ran a field exercise that allowed the students to conduct an investigation, apply the principles they learned in their classroom and compute the speed of a vehicle involved in a crash.
It was a great experience to be able to teach my daughter and her friends. The students were laser-focused and interested in the topics, and they really had fun with the field exercise. I was especially proud knowing that my daughter will be joining her sister in her college years as a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
