copcar
dot com presents: Copcar
Crash Dummies
sorry
but these photographs have been misplaced.
"Moment of truth"
At a recent conference of Accident Reconstructionists at Texas A&M, we
crashed a bunch of old copcars. For two particular crash runs, we obtained
two identical Chevy Astro vans and two identical Chevy pickups. All were
from Harris County, TX and obtained at a county auction. The Astro vans
were just regular county vehicles but the pickups were Sheriff's vehicles.
For the first test, we ran an offset head-on collision with both vehicles
traveling at approximately 30 miles per hour. It was a great crash, as
witnessed in the still photo taken just following maximum engagement and during
separation. Both vehicles stayed upright.
Here's the aftermath of the collision with vehicles at rest. Just
remember: Bigger is better
Next, we took the other Astro and got it up to 60, striking the twin pickup
while it was standing still. The purpose was to study the differences of a
60 MPH closing speed with both vehicles moving or only one vehicle moving.
It was an awesome crash:
Click
here for an MPG
And the
results:
Bigger
is.....
...BETTER.
Sheriff's pickup wins!
Next, we
took 21 Kawasaki Police 1000 MC's that were donated by New Orleans Police
Department. We crashed them into anything we could find. Cement
Barriers, the ground, a rental car some new guy foolishly brought out to the
track .
Click
here for the MPG
I sure
hope this guy got the full coverage on his rental car.
And what
would smashing copcars be without crashing two scudmobiles into one another?
More from Harris County, TX Sheriff as two 9c1's meet their demise as each
vehicle travels at about 30 MPH into an angular collision:
Click
Here for the MPG
And in the
aftermath, neither one wins
Here's the target vehicle. You can almost hear the Caprice geeks crying.
And the
bullet vehicle. Interesting how the vehicle parked itself perfectly
between the two outhouses (the vehicles were cabled, not driven).
