The Science of Collisions

This course is accredited for 6.0 hours of continuing education credits by Missouri POST.

To successfully testify about motor vehicle crash investigation and reconstruction, it is essential that an officer understands and can explain to a jury in “plain speak” what has been done. Through video lectures from a seasoned prosecutor and motor vehicle crash expert, this course examines the science that supports crash reconstruction and follow-up efforts. Course topics include:

The basic physics principles that form the foundation for collision reconstruction calculations
Extensive discussions of Newton’s Laws of Motion
Exploration of crash-related concepts including center of mass, gravitational acceleration, time-distance-speed relationships, kinetic energy, and conservation of energy

With clear, easy-to-understand explanations that build credibility for the officer when integrated into trial testimony, the course includes numerous examples and analogies to help officers better and understand significant scientific concepts. All materials are delivered with an emphasis on “plain speak,” a signature of Prof. Kwasnoski’s presentation style. The successful investigation and prosecution of a motor vehicle crash may include issues that are not part of the ordinary at-scene checklist of evidence, and this course provides critical concepts to help officers employ scientific principles in furtherance of their investigations.

Register for Course

About the Instructor

Professor John Kwasnoski

More courses by this instructor

John B. Kwasnoski is Professor Emeritus of Forensic Physics at Western New England University, Springfield, MA after thirty-one years on the faculty. He is a certified police trainer in more than twenty states, and has instructed prosecutors, police, and civil attorneys on more than 330 occasions across the U.S. He is the crash reconstructionist on the “Lethal Weapon – DWI Homicide” team formed by the National Traffic Law Center to teach prosecutors how to utilize expert witness testimony and cross examine adverse expert witnesses.

Prof. Kwasnoski has reconstructed more than 1,300 crashes since 1985, including multiple and single vehicle, pedestrian, motorcycle, and train crashes, and has given sworn testimony on more than 200 occasions; he has trained with the NYPD collision reconstruction unit since 2001, and continues to serve as a consultant to prosecutors nationwide on MV homicide cases. He has worked for more than twenty major insurers as a consultant/expert witness, and has conducted training for the claims adjusters and special investigators of a number of insurance companies.

He has served as an expert in several cases of national significance including S. Carolina v. Susan Smith (a mother’s drowning murder of her two children) in which he participated in the re-enactment of the drowning in a submerged automobile and the creation of a video used in the sentencing phase of the trial. He was the reconstructionist for the plaintiff in the case of Ulm v. Ford Motor Co. in which a Vermont jury awarded the plaintiff more than one million dollars.

Prof. Kwasnoski has authored The Handbook of Collision Reconstruction, Kwasnoski’s Little Red Book, and Crash Reconstruction Basics for Prosecutors, and has co-authored three best-selling books for Lexis Law Publishing : Investigation and Prosecution of DWI and Vehicular Homicide, Courtroom Survival, and The Officer’s DUI Manual. Prof. Kwasnoski has published more than 80 journal and newsletter articles on collision reconstruction, and maintains an active national speaking schedule; find out more at www.legalsciences.com.