Defending Automobile Manufacturers in Design Defect Cases

The good news is that jury pools are populated with persons who have first-hand knowledge of reckless and aggressive drivers. They are also well aware of the frequency of accidents and their toll in lives and injuries, i.e., 6,420,000 crashes and 42,636 deaths each year (2005), a rate of 115 deaths per day. In addition, as courts and jurors are called on to examine the various facts presented in these cases and, in order to apportion causality, they are most often provided with reports and testimony from accident reconstructionists, employed by law enforcement or private consulting firms. The reconstructionists compute the coefficient of friction of the road surface, measure skid marks in evidence on the road's surface, analyze the vehicles' damage to determine impact forces, make estimates about the speed of the vehicles, and generally provide a description of the physical forces at work in various accident scenarios. Such computations, however, only tell part of the accident story. An equally important dimension involves the human factors issues involved and, in particular, driver reaction times. This is where the plaintiff's counsel will present the other side of the story.