The Damage Tells the Story: The Importance of Expert Damage Analysis

The Damage Tells the Story: The Importance of Expert Damage Analysis

When investigating an accident, physical evidence is an important part of the analysis. Stories can be changed, and memories can be foggy, but the physical damage resulting from an accident are generally unchanging, and certainly not subject to things like memory, trauma, or perception. However, damage can be misinterpreted if not analyzed by the right individuals. Take the following case as an example:

The Original Story

Two boats, a Sea Nymph GLS 195 and a Galaxy 1000BR, were both operating on Lake Erie one November night. The Sea Nymph vessel was traveling southwest while the Galaxy vessel was traveling southeast. At some point, the front starboard side (i.e., the right side) of the Galaxy vessel collided into the Sea Nymph vessel’s rear starboard side, as depicted by law enforcement investigators after the collision in Figure 1. The collision of the vessels resulted in the death of the driver and the passenger on the Galaxy vessel. 

Based on the original analysis performed, it was concluded the Sea Nymph vessel did not have an all-round white light inserted at the time of the collision; the use of an all-round white light is required by law during nighttime boating for a vessel of this type. This conclusion was made through observations of the physical evidence, specifically, that the plastic cap on the all-round light receptacle base was found closed after the collision, and the receptacle base of the all-round light was fairly undamaged. In addition, the four-foot tall light pole was missing following the collision. The operator of the Sea Nymph vessel was consequently charged with reckless and unsafe operation of a vessel, and subject to the penalty for causing injury to persons or damage to property due to unsafe operation. 

For reference, the all-round white light in question and its approximate mounting location on the vessel are shown in Figure 2.

Explico’s Analysis

The Sea Nymph operator testified that the all-round white light was properly installed and illuminated at the time of the collision, and thus Explico was brought in to investigate. For this case, Dr. Wendy Sanders and the Explico team were able to inspect and document both of the damaged vessels, which played a crucial role in the analysis. 

On the Sea Nymph vessel, the damage was concentrated toward the rear starboard portion of the vessel and its outboard motor, shown in Figure 3.

The receptacle base for the all-round white light was inspected. As the initial investigation noted, the cap was closed; however, upon Explico’s examination, it was observed that the flexible plastic cap naturally closes if it is not being held open. Additionally, the damage to the vessel prevented the cap from fully closing after the incident, which would be consistent with the cap having been open when the collision damage occurred. The plastic receptacle base was fractured at its forward end and the rear attachment screwhead was pulled through the plastic, as shown in Figure 4. 

There were no markings on the surface of the receptacle base that would indicate direct contact to the fixture during the collision. This indicated that the damage was not a result of direct contact with another object, but rather that another structure had to have been displaced or moved, resulting in induced damage of the receptacle base. The damage observed was consistent with damage due to a lever arm “prying” the fixture away from the hull of the boat; this would be consistent with a light pole having been inserted into the receptacle base and experiencing a force from impact with an object, such as another vessel. The force on the pole would have resulted in the plastic base fracturing at its weakest points where the plastic material was thinnest, which were the fastening locations. 

The damage to the receptacle base was telling in itself, but the damage to the other vessel, the Galaxy, proved to be just as crucial to the story. The damage to the Galaxy was concentrated along the starboard side of the hull at the front of the vessel, shown in Figure 5. This damage is consistent with the Galaxy vessel contacting the rear end of the Sea Nymph Vessel. 

The damage to the hulls of the vessels assisted with determining the impact alignment during the collision. 3D models of the vessels were created from the 3D scans taken at Explico’s inspection. The 3D scans and models were lined up to visualize the positions of the vessels during the collision, shown in Figure 6. 

In addition to the hull damage, there was there was additional damage observed on the Galaxy vessel on the starboard rubrail, just forward of the hull damage. The forward starboard rubrail had a small dent in it (see Figure 7), which, interestingly, was consistent with direct contact to a relatively vertical cylindrical object, such as a pole. 

The damage observed on both vessels allowed us to determine the impact orientation of the vessels at impact. For the damage to the Galaxy’s rubrail to occur, there needed to be a contacting pole structure, which indicates that the all-round white light must have been installed on the Sea Nymph at the time of the incident, shown in Figure 8. The collision caused the properly installed all-round white light to be pried out of its receptacle base, fracturing the base in the process, and consequently was lost in the water following the collision.

Proper analysis of an incident involves more than the observation of one piece of damage. Utilizing experts with both experience and multiple analytical tools at their disposal allowed for additional facts to be uncovered. The combination of the hull damage to both vessels, the Sea Nymph’s light mounting receptacle base damage, and the Galaxy’s rubrail damage allowed for all of the damage to be pieced together by Explico experts, and from there, the real story unfolded.