Abstract
When traffic accidents happen, investigators observe the state of the vehicle at the crash site of the accident. Here the energy conservation law can be used to estimate the vehicle collision speed. Since the collision speed of the vehicle can be estimated from the energy of its deformed volume, investigators observe and measure the vehicle's crash state. However, when a vehicle collides into traffic signs, both the vehicle and sign will be deformed. Consequently, to estimate correctly the vehicle collision speed, the energy absorption capacity of the signs should be taken into account with the vehicle deformation after the crash.
In this study, to improve the estimation of the collision speed of the vehicle, the drop weight tests were done to examine the absorption energy of the signs. The traffic signs used in this test are a road sign, a road mirror and a guard-rail on the roadside. From test results, it can be concluded that the input energy is linearly proportion to the deformed angle of the sign. Also from this test, the relationships between energy and deformed angle of the signs can be formulated. Identification for estimating the vehicle collision speed at an accident hereafter can be done properly with ease.
