Typically, when a vehicle accident happens, the authorities are called immediately and brought out to the scene to conduct a comprehensive investigation and to clear the roadway to prevent other accidents.
New research from the North Carolina Transportation Department finds that adopting technology like drones could dramatically reduce the risk of future accidents and investigation time. They looked at three different unmanned aircraft systems in order to determine the effectiveness of the machines. These drones analyzed and recorded the staged crashes in less than 25 minutes. Traditional laser methods on the other hand, can take up to one hour and 51 minutes to complete.
The drone data was also easier to read and produced very accurate maps of the collision site such that the measured locations were accurate within 0.03 ft. The time spent at collision sites could be dramatically reduced by using drones and it could also put investigatory team members at a reduced risk of being involved in an accident. Some of the other benefits identified with using drones to investigate accident scenes included being easier to operate and requiring less maintenance than other methods.
While the drones were used during clear weather conditions in daylight, this still shows significant promise for the future of using technology to reduce investigation time and to clear the traffic flow more quickly. Have you already been hurt in an accident? Call a San Francisco auto accident lawyer today to learn more.