Modern litigation often necessitates the use of experts at trial to prove key issues in a case. For example, in a car crash case where there is a dispute about the speed of the vehicles, an accident reconstruction expert can often determine the speed of the vehicles, after examining the type of damage done to the vehicles, the length of skid marks, and the condition of the road surface.
In some cases, the attorney representing an injured person will hire the services of a human factors expert. Human factors experts study how people interact with products, machines, equipment and environments. They also study the effects of people’s mental, perception and physical capabilities and limitations. Here are some examples of how a human factors expert can be used in a car accident case:
- — Determining how far in advance a driver could see a stop sign or other traffic signal.
- — Determine the amount of time a driver takes to apply her brakes, starting from the first moment a traffic hazard is seen.
- — Whether the warning sounds or horns of road equipment could be heard at a distance from where a driver was approaching.
- — The ability of a driver to see certain road hazards at night.
- — Whether warning labels on products are likely to be seen by users of those products.
Most of us have intuitive approximate answers to these problems, but it takes the application of scientific principles by a human factors expert to provide a jury with the precise measurements needed to arrive at fair verdict in personal injury trial.